When Frank and Tom came home from school one afternoon, they found their
uncle very busy finishing a net he had made of green gauze.
It had the shape of a shallow bag, and was fixed to a stout wire ring.
This ring was fastened to a walking-stick with a piece of strong string.
On the table there were three wide glass jars, each with a piece of cord
tied round the neck to serve as a handle.
“Now,” said Uncle George, as he finished tying the net to the stick,
“now we are all ready for a visit to that pond of yours.”
[Illustration: Pond-Net and Glass Jars.]
The pond was about half a mile away, in the corner of a field near a
wood. A small stream ran out of it, and joined a larger one a short
distance away. The last time the boys had seen this pond it was covered
with ice, and they had a merry time skating upon it. When they reached
it on this afternoon, it looked quite different. The grass around its
banks was fresh and green, and rushes were peeping up through the water.
“Listen!” said Uncle George.
“_Croak, croak, cr-roak_” came from beyond the rushes, while here and
there a little head would bob up and down in the water.
[Illustration: Frog and Spawn in Water.]
“Frogs!” said Frank.
Uncle George nodded, and, stepping to the edge of the pond, he pulled
the net out, and with it a large mass of what looked like clear jelly,
having a large number of black dots in it.
“Bring the largest jar, Tom,” he said, “we are going to take this home.”
“What is it, Uncle George?” both boys asked at once.
“It is a mass of frog’s eggs, called the spawn of the frog,” their uncle
replied. “Now, Frank, hold the jar over the water while I try to pour it
in.”
It was no easy matter getting it into the jar. It fell back into the
pond several times before it was at last got in the jar.
“There,” said Uncle George, as he placed the jar, now filled with frog
spawn, upon the bank. “Now, let us go to another part of the pond and
look for something else.
“Keep quite still and look into the water. That is the only way to study
pond life. If you move about you will see very little. Now tell me if
you see anything moving at the bottom of the pond.”
“I see things like little pieces of stick moving slowly about,” said Tom
in a whisper; “but perhaps it is the water that is moving them.”
“Not a bit of it,” said Uncle George. “They are not pieces of stick.
There is a living creature inside each of them. We must have some of
them, Tom. They are very interesting creatures.” And Uncle George put
his hand carefully down and picked several of them up.
“These are caddis ‘worms,’” said Uncle George. He placed them in the
second jar, and filled it up with water.
Tom then saw that each of the “sticks” was really a little house, in
which was an insect of some sort.
The cases were built of all kinds of odds and ends, glued together by
the clever creatures that lived inside them.
Some were built of little pieces of rush or water-weed, others of tiny
shells, and others of very small stones.
Each case was open at one end, and from this end the little dweller came
almost half-way out. They could see his head, his legs, and the fore
part of his body as he moved along, dragging his little house after him.
“Uncle George, come here please,” Frank shouted from the other side of
the pond. “Oh, such a funny animal—a fish with legs.”
“A fish with legs?” said Uncle George, laughing. “Oh, we must come and
see that.”
“Why, that isn’t a fish, Frank. It is a newt.” And Uncle George put in
the net to catch him. But the creature was too quick for him. It darted
out of sight.
“Here are two others. Oh, such big ones,” said Tom, in a loud whisper.
This time Uncle George was luckier. When he drew up the net there were
two large creatures like lizards in it.
“This is a lucky find, boys,” said their uncle. “Great crested newts,
and what beauties they are!”
The boys were surprised to see him take one of the newts out of the net
in his hand. He turned them over and looked at them closely before
putting them into the jar.
“Aren’t you afraid they will bite you, Uncle George?” Tom asked.
“No, they cannot bite, and for a very good reason. They have got no
teeth. They are most harmless creatures.
“But we must be getting home, boys. We have done well for our first
visit to the pond. I will tell you all about what we have found when we
get home, and you must watch them closely for yourselves.”
“Are we going to keep all these animals?” Frank asked.
“We will keep them for a little while, so as to find out what we can
about them, then we will put them in the pond again.”
Exercises on Lesson VII.
1. What did the boys find in the pond?
2. What other living things may be seen in ponds? Make a list of all
the pond creatures you know.
3. Why do caddis “worms” build cases round themselves?
4. Can newts bite? Give reason.