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Pond Life - Preface
It is hoped that the material presented will awaken sufficient interest, and the many questions left unanswered will arouse enough curiosity to cause young readers everywhere to conduct a few experiments of their own. For some of the questions will not be answered in any of the available source books. This is especially true with regard to a number of the forms common to the Pacific Northwest.
Pond Life - The Fresh Water Aquarium
You may prefer to have several small aquaria rather than one large aquarium. In this way you can keep the larger animals from killing the weaker ones. You will also be able to make a closer study of some of the animals if they are separate. A reading glass can be held in the water to enlarge the animals while studying them.
Pond Life - The Crayfish
Perhaps you will find a crayfish that is growing a new leg or antenna to take the place of one that was broken off or lost in fighting.
Pond Life - The Fairy Shrimp
You may not find these little animals in the same pond every year.
Pond Life - Smaller Crustaceans : Amphipods
Amphipods are commonly called scuds, perhaps because they move swiftly along like a small vessel driven before a gale. They can also jump, and for this reason are sometimes confused with minute crustaceans called water fleas. Scuds are commonly from one-eighth inch to one-half inch in length, and are often pale green in color. They can readily be distinguished from the crayfish and fairy shrimp by their flat, flea- like appearance.
Pond Life - The Caddis Fly
The third division of the caddis worm's body, behind his last pair of legs, is called his abdomen. Along the sides of this abdomen you will usually find gills, which look like white threads. Oxygen from the water passes through the walls of these gills and is carried through the body of the animal in many fine, branched airtubes. You will remember that oxygen is carried through the body of the crayfish by his colorless blood
Pond Life - The Mayfly
Mayfly nymphs which live in swiftly flowing water have broad, flat bodies which help them cling to rocks. Their heads and legs are flattened, also, and they may have suction disks on the under sides of their bodies. Mayfly nymphs that live in the quiet water of lakes or ponds have narrower bodies, and they swim about more. Instead of hiding in the dark, they crawl over water plants and swim through the water. Both kinds have two or three long tails and one claw on the tip of each foot
Pond Life - The Stonefly
If you are really curious about the habits of any animal you are studying, you can build a cage and keep him in it in his own home pond or stream. One scientist, Dr. James G. Needham, has used such cages to study the life histories of various freshwater animals
Pond Life - Dragonflies And Damselflies
We should be grateful to him for the many mosquito larvae he eats
Pond Life - Water Beetles
Since beetles undergo complete metamorphosis, the young water beetle is called a larva. Larvae of water beetles are somewhat different in shape, but each usually has a broad, flat head, a thorax to which six legs are attached, biting mouthparts, and a segmented abdomen
Pond Life - Water Bugs
The female of one Giant Water Bug lays her eggs in the stems of plants above the water. You can often find them there. They are larger than the eggs of many insect
Pond Life - The Midge
This larva does not have jointed legs as a caddis fly larva does, and may at first be mistaken for a worm
Pond Life - The Drone Fly
When they are flying, drone flies are sometimes mistaken for bees. When they are at rest, it can be seen that they have only one pair of wings. Bees have two pairs
Pond Life - Mosquitoes And Craneflies
Craneflies, sometimes called
Pond Life - The Water-Mite
The female water-mite lays her eggs in the water; sometimes on the under sides of leaves, sometimes in the bodies of clams, mussels, or fresh-water sponges. Some attach the eggs to the bodies of water striders or other water insects. The larva which develops from one of these eggs is different from other larvae you have observed, because it becomes a parasite
Pond Life - The Flatworm
These animals are carnivorous and will eat bits of crushed meat. The aquarium should not be set in direct sunlight, and the water must be kept fresh and cool
Pond Life - The Leech
Large American leeches are about six inches long. Adults of others are from one to four inches in length, but you may find young ones which are quite small. Leech eggs are usually covered with a cocoon which the parent attaches to stones or other objects
Pond Life - The Snail
When a watersnail is moving, you can see that he has a distinct head, to which is attached one pair of tentacles. Snails that live on land have two pairs of tentacles, with eyes at the tip of one pair, but water snails do not. Their eyes are at the base of their one pair of tentacles. If you watch closely, you will be astonished to see how far a snail can stretch these tentacles, and how easily he bends them in every direction.
Pond Life - The Limpet
The shells are usually dark gray, and difficult to see among the plants and other animals in your collection, particularly if the limpet is attached to a rock of the same color.
Pond Life - The Clam
The neck of a clam is called the siphon. It is really not a neck at all, as the clam's mouth is at the forward end of its body, above the foot. There are two canals in the siphon
Pond Life - Frogs And Salamanders
Almost everyone has found masses of frogs' eggs in ponds or lakes in the spring
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Pond Life - The Fresh Water Aquarium- Collecting
You will not find all the animals you wish to study in any one pond or lake
Pond Life - The Crayfish
When you find a female crayfish, you may see eggs or even small crayfish attached to her swimmerets. The eggs usually hatch in about two months. The small crayfish may then attach themselves to the swimmerets for a short time before dropping off into the water and beginning life for themselves.
Pond Life - Smaller Crustaceans : Isopods
An isopod looks a little like an armadillo; in fact, the name of one group of land isopods is Armadillium. Everyone is so familiar with the common land sow bug that the water sow bug is sure to be recognized at once. When you see his seven pairs of legs, you will know that he is not an insect. He feeds on decayed matter.
Pond Life - The Caddis Fly
Not all caddis worms use sticks for building material
Pond Life - The Mayfly
At evening you may see hundreds of mayflies swarming over the surface of a pond or lake in their mating flight. After mating, the female lays eggs in the water. The long, slow development of eggs into nymphs and nymphs into adults begins again in the water, but the beautiful parents die.
Pond Life - The Stonefly
Take a square of very fine wire netting and roll it into a cylinder
Pond Life - Dragonflies And Damselflies
Female damselflies often lay their eggs in the leaves or stems of water plants. Some dragonflies also lay their eggs in plants. Other dragonflies fly low over the surface of a pond and dip the tips of their abdomens to lay their eggs in the water
Pond Life - Water Scavanger Beetles
The larvae of the water-scavenger beetles are carnivorous, and feed upon nymphs, larvae, tadpoles, beetles, and other animals
Pond Life - Water Bugs : Backswimmer
A water boatman's middle pair of legs is long, and his hind legs are long and flattened
Pond Life - The Snail
Most fresh-water snails lay their eggs under water in masses of gelatin.
Pond Life - The Clam
Some fresh-water clams are three or four inches long.
Pond Life - Frogs And Salamanders
The animal kingdom is commonly divided into thirteen large groups, called subking-doms, branches, or phyla
Pond Life - The Fresh Water Aquarium-
Some of the animals you will discover live only in fresh water; some are at home in a pond, but can leave the water to walk on land; a few can both swim and fly. You will find cannibals feasting upon their neighbors, and see other, gentle inhabitants of fresh water browsing upon plants like tiny cows.
Pond Life - The Caddis Fly
Each caddis fly larva develops from a single egg. Very soon it begins to build a house and search for food.
Pond Life - Water Beetles: Water Pennies
There are six legs and five pairs of gills on the under side of a water penny's body
Pond Life - Water Bugs : Water Scorpion
This water bug carries his first pair of legs in front of his head, like strange, flattened antennae. He uses these forelegs to catch and hold his victims
Pond Life - Frogs And Salamanders
Those you are most likely to find are from four to eight inches in length. The adults usually live on land in damp places, but lay their eggs in the water. Young salamanders will be found in the water, hiding under stones or among plant roots
Pond Life - Frogs And Salamanders
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