Part 6

________________________________________________
_ I am not jesting; a fresh-water aquarium, though by no means as beautiful as a salt-water one, is even more easily established. A glass jar, floored with two or three inches of pond-mud (which should be covered with fine gravel to prevent the mud washing up); a specimen of each of two water-plants which you may buy now at any good shop in Covent Garden, Vallisneria spiralis (which is said to give to the Canvas-backed duck of America its peculiar richness of flavour), and Anacharis alsinastrum, that magical weed which, lately introduced from Canada among timber, has multiplied, self- sown, to so prodigious an extent, that it bid fair, a few years since, to choke the navigation not only of our canals and fen-rivers, but of the Thames itself: (34) or, in default of these, some of the more delicate pond-weeds; such as Callitriche, Potamogeton pusillum, and, best of all, perhaps, the beautiful Water-Milfoil (Myriophyllium), whose comb-like leaves are the haunts of numberless rare and curious animalcules:- these (in themselves, from the transparency of their circulation, interesting microscopic objects) for oxygen-breeding vegetables; and for animals, the pickings of any pond; a minnow or two, an eft; a few of the delicate pond-snails (unless they devour your plants too rapidly): water-beetles, of activity inconceivable, and that wondrous bug the Notonecta, who lies on his back all day, rowing about his boat-shaped body, with one long pair of oars, in search of animalcules, and the moment the lights are out, turns head over heels, rights himself, and opening a pair of handsome wings, starts to fly about the dark room in company with his friend the water- beetle, and (I suspect) catch flies; and then slips back demurely into the water with the first streak of dawn. But perhaps the most interesting of all the tribes of the Naiads, - (in default, of course, of those semi-human nymphs with which our Teutonic forefathers, like the Greeks, peopled each "sacred fountain,") - are the little "water-crickets," which may be found running under the pebbles, or burrowing in little galleries in the banks: and those "caddises," which crawl on the bottom in the stiller waters, enclosed, all save the head and legs, in a tube of sand or pebbles, shells or sticks, green or dead weeds, often arranged with quaint symmetry, or of very graceful shape. Their aspect in this state may be somewhat uninviting, but they compensate for their youthful ugliness by the strangeness of their transformations, and often by the delicate beauty of the perfect insects, as the "caddises," rising to the surface, become flying Phryganeae (caperers and sand- flies), generally of various shades of fawn-colour; and the water- crickets (though an unscientific eye may be able to discern but little difference in them in the "larva," or imperfect state) change into flies of the most various shapes; - one, perhaps, into the great sluggish olive "Stone-fly" (Perla bicaudata); another into the delicate lemon-coloured "Yellow Sally" (Chrysoperla viridis); another into the dark chocolate "Alder" (Sialis lutaria): and the majority into duns and drakes (Ephemerae); whose grace of form, and delicacy of colour, give them a right to rank among the most exquisite of God's creations, from the tiny "Spinners" (Baetis or Chloron) of incandescent glass, with gorgeous rainbow-coloured eyes, to the great Green Drake (Ephemera vulgata), known to all fishermen as the prince of trout-flies. These animals, their habits, their miraculous transformations, might give many an hour's quiet amusement to an invalid, laid on a sofa, or imprisoned in a sick-room, and debarred from reading, unless by some such means, any page of that great green book outside, whose pen is the finger of God, whose covers are the fire kingdoms and the star kingdoms, and its leaves the heather-bells, and the polypes of the sea, and the gnats above the summer stream.

Note:
(34) But if any young lady, her aquarium having failed,
shall (as dozens do) cast out the same Anacharis into
the nearest ditch, she shall be followed to her grave
by the maledictions of all millers and trout-fishers.
Seriously, this is a wanton act of injury to the
neighbouring streams, which must be carefully guarded
against. As well turn loose queen-wasps to build in
your neighbour's banks.

I said just now, that happy was the sportsman who was also a naturalist. And, having once mentioned these curious water-flies, I cannot help going a little farther, and saying, that lucky is the fisherman who is also a naturalist. A fair scientific knowledge of the flies which he imitates, and of their habits, would often ensure him sport, while other men are going home with empty creels. One would have fancied this a self-evident fact; yet I have never found any sound knowledge of the natural water-flies which haunt a given stream, except among cunning old fishermen of the lower class, who get their living by the gentle art, and bring to indoors baskets of trout killed on flies, which look as if they had been tied with a pair of tongs, so rough and ungainly are they; but which, nevertheless, kill, simply because they are (in COLOUR, which is all that fish really care for) exact likenesses of some obscure local species, which happen to be on the water at the time. Among gentlemen-fishermen, on the other hand, so deep is the ignorance of the natural fly, that I have known good sportsmen still under the delusion that the great green May-fly comes out of a caddis-bait; the gentlemen having never seen, much less fished with, that most deadly bait the "Water-cricket," or free creeping larva of the May-fly, which may be found in May under the river- banks. The consequence of this ignorance is that they depend for good patterns of flies on mere chance and experiment; and that the shop patterns, originally excellent, deteriorate continually, till little or no likeness to their living prototype remains, being tied by town girls, who have no more understanding of what the feathers and mohair in their hands represent than they have of what the National Debt represents. Hence follows many a failure at the stream-side; because the "Caperer," or "Dun," or "Yellow Sally," which is produced from the fly-book, though, possibly, like the brood which came out three years since on some stream a hundred miles away, is quite unlike the brood which is out to-day on one's own river. For not only do most of these flies vary in colour in different soils and climates, but many of them change their hue during life; the Ephemerae, especially, have a habit of throwing off the whole of their skins (even, marvellously enough, to the skin of the eyes and wings, and the delicate "whisks" at their tail), and appearing in an utterly new garb after ten minutes' rest, to the discomfiture of the astonished angler.

The natural history of these flies, I understand from Mr. Stainton (one of our most distinguished entomologists), has not yet been worked out, at least for England. The only attempt, I believe, in that direction is one made by a charming book, "The Fly-fisher's Entomology," which should be in every good angler's library; but why should not a few fishermen combine to work out the subject for themselves, and study for the interests both of science and their own sport, "The Wonders of the Bank?" The work, petty as it may seem, is much too great for one man, so prodigal is Nature of her forms, in the stream as in the ocean; but what if a correspondence were opened between a few fishermen - of whom one should live, say, by the Hampshire or Berkshire chalk streams; another on the slates and granites of Devon; another on the limestones of Yorkshire or Derbyshire; another among the yet earlier slates of Snowdonia, or some mountain part of Wales; and more than one among the hills of the Border and the lakes of the Highlands? Each would find (I suspect), on comparing his insects with those of the others, that he was exploring a little peculiar world of his own, and that with the exception of a certain number of typical forms, the flies of his county were unknown a hundred miles away, or, at least, appeared there under great differences of size and colour; and each, if he would take the trouble to collect the caddises and water-crickets, and breed them into the perfect fly in an aquarium, would see marvels in their transformations, their instincts, their anatomy, quite as great (though not, perhaps, as showy and startling) as I have been trying to point out on the sea-shore. Moreover, each and every one of the party, I will warrant, will find his fellow-correspondents (perhaps previously unknown to him) men worth knowing; not, it may be, of the meditative and half- saintly type of dear old Izaak Walton (who, after all, was no fly- fisher, but a sedentary "popjoy" guilty of float and worm), but rather, like his fly-fishing disciple Cotton, good fellows and men of the world, and, perhaps, something better over and above.

The suggestion has been made. Will it ever be taken up, and a "Naiad Club" formed, for the combination of sport and science?

And, now, how can this desultory little treatise end more usefully than in recommending a few books on Natural History, fit for the use of young people; and fit to serve as introductions to such deeper and larger works as Yarrell's "Birds and Fishes," Bell's "Quadrupeds" and "Crustacea," Forbes and Hanley's "Mollusca," Owen's "Fossil Mammals and Birds," and a host of other admirable works? Not that this list will contain all the best; but simply the best of which the writer knows; let, therefore, none feel aggrieved, if, as it may chance, opening these pages, they find their books omitted.

First and foremost, certainly, come Mr. Gosse's books. There is a playful and genial spirit in them, a brilliant power of word- painting combined with deep and earnest religious feeling, which makes them as morally valuable as they are intellectually interesting. Since White's "History of Selborne," few or no writers on Natural History, save Mr. Gosse, Mr. G. H. Lewes, and poor Mr. E. Forbes, have had the power of bringing out the human side of science, and giving to seemingly dry disquisitions and animals of the lowest type, by little touches of pathos and humour, that living and personal interest, to bestow which is generally the special function of the poet: not that Waterton and Jesse are not excellent in this respect, and authors who should be in every boy's library: but they are rather anecdotists than systematic or scientific inquirers; while Mr. Gosse, in his "Naturalist on the Shores of Devon," his "Tour in Jamaica," his "Tenby," and his "Canadian Naturalist," has done for those three places what White did for Selborne, with all the improved appliances of a science which has widened and deepened tenfold since White's time. Mr. Gosse's "Manual of the Marine Zoology of the British Isles" is, for classification, by far the completest handbook extant. He has contrived in it to compress more sound knowledge of vast classes of the animal kingdom than I ever saw before in so small a space. (35)

Note:
(35) Very highly also, in interest, ranks M. Quatrefages'
"Rambles of a Naturalist" (about the Mediterranean and
the French Coast), translated by M. Otte.

Miss Anne Pratt's "Things of the Sea-coast" is excellent; and still better is Professor Harvey's "Sea-side Book," of which it is impossible to speak too highly; and most pleasant it is to see a man of genius and learning thus gathering the bloom of his varied knowledge, to put it into a form equally suited to a child and a SAVANT. Seldom, perhaps, has there been a little book in which so vast a quantity of facts have been told so gracefully, simply, without a taint of pedantry or cumbrousness - an excellence which is the sure and only mark of a perfect mastery of the subject. Mr. G. H. Lewes's "Sea-shore Studies" are also very valuable; hardly perhaps a book for beginners, but from his admirable power of description, whether of animals or of scenes, is interesting for all classes of readers.

Two little "Popular" Histories - one of British Zoophytes, the other of British Sea-weeds, by Dr. Landsborough (since dead of cholera, at Saltcoats, the scene of his energetic and pious ministry) - are very excellent; and are furnished, too, with well- drawn and coloured plates, for the comfort of those to whom a scientific nomenclature (as liable as any other human thing to be faulty and obscure) conveys but a vague conception of the objects. These may serve well for the beginner, as introductions to Professor Harvey's large work on British Algae, and to the new edition of Professor Johnston's invaluable "British Zoophytes," Miss Gifford's "Marine Botanist," third edition, and Dr. Cocks's "Sea-weed Collector's Guide," have also been recommended by a high authority.

For general Zoology the best books for beginners are, perhaps, as a general introduction, the Rev. J. A. L. Wood's "Popular Zoology," full of excellent plates; and for systematic Zoology, Mr. Gosse's four little books, on Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes, published with many plates, by the Christian Knowledge Society, at a marvellously cheap rate. For miscroscopic animalcules, Miss Agnes Catlow's "Drops of Water" will teach the young more than they will ever remember, and serve as a good introduction to those teeming abysses of the unseen world, which must be afterwards traversed under the guidance of Hassall and Ehrenberg.

For Ornithology, there is no book, after all, like dear old Bewick, PASSE though he may be in a scientific point of view. There is a good little British ornithology, too, published in Sir W. Jardine's "Naturalist's Library," and another by Mr. Gosse. And Mr. Knox's "Ornithological Rambles in Sussex," with Mr. St. John's "Highland Sports," and "Tour in Sutherlandshire," are the monographs of naturalists, gentlemen, and sportsmen, which remind one at every page (and what higher praise can one give?) of White's "History of Selborne." These last, with Mr. Gosse's "Canadian Naturalist," and his little book "The Ocean," not forgetting Darwin's delightful "Voyage of the Beagle and Adventure," ought to be in the hands of every lad who is likely to travel to our colonies.

For general Geology, Professor Ansted's Introduction is excellent; while, as a specimen of the way in which a single district may be thoroughly worked out, and the universal method of induction learnt from a narrow field of objects, what book can, or perhaps ever will, compare with Mr. Hugh Miller's "Old Red Sandstone"?

For this last reason, I especially recommend to the young the Rev. C. A. Johns's "Week at the Lizard," as teaching a young person how much there is to be seen and known within a few square miles of these British Isles. But, indeed, all Mr. Johns's books are good (as they are bound to be, considering his most accurate and varied knowledge), especially his "Flowers of the Field," the best cheap introduction to systematic botany which has yet appeared. Trained, and all but self-trained, like Mr. Hugh Miller, in a remote and narrow field of observation, Mr. Johns has developed himself into one of our most acute and persevering botanists, and has added many a new treasure to the Flora of these isles; and one person, at least, owes him a deep debt of gratitude for first lessons in scientific accuracy and patience, - lessons taught, not dully and dryly at the book and desk, but livingly and genially, in adventurous rambles over the bleak cliffs and ferny woods of the wild Atlantic shore, -

"Where the old fable of the guarded mount
Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold."

Mr. Henfrey's "Rudiments of Botany" might accompany Mr. Johns's books. Mr. Babington's "Manual of British Botany" is also most compact and highly finished, and seems the best work which I know of from which a student somewhat advanced in English botany can verify species; while for ferns, Moore's "Handbook" is probably the best for beginners.

For Entomology, which, after all, is the study most fit for boys (as Botany is for girls) who have no opportunity for visiting the sea-shore, Catlow's "Popular British Entomology," having coloured plates (a delight to young people), and saying something of all the orders, is, probably, still a good work for beginners.

Mr. Stainton's "Entomologist's Annual for 1855" contains valuable hints of that gentleman's on taking and arranging moths and butterflies; as well as of Mr. Wollaston's on performing the same kind office for that far more numerous, and not less beautiful class, the beetles. There is also an admirable "Manual of British Butterflies and Moths," by Mr. Stainton, in course of publication; but, perhaps, the most interesting of all entomological books which I have seen (and for introducing me to which I must express my hearty thanks to Mr. Stainton), is "Practical Hints respecting Moths and Butterflies, forming a Calendar of Entomological Operations," (36) by Richard Shield, a simple London working-man.

Note:(36) Van Voorst & Co. price 3s.

I would gladly devote more space than I can here spare to a review of this little book, so perfectly does it corroborate every word which I have said already as to the moral and intellectual value of such studies. Richard Shield, making himself a first-rate "lepidopterist," while working with his hands for a pound a week, is the antitype of Mr. Peach, the coast-guardsman, among his Cornish tide-rocks. But more than this, there is about Shield's book a tone as of Izaak Walton himself, which is very delightful; tender, poetical, and religious, yet full of quiet quaintness and humour; showing in every page how the love for Natural History is in him only one expression of a love for all things beautiful, and pure, and right. If any readers of these pages fancy that I over- praise the book, let them buy it, and judge for themselves. They will thus help the good man toward pursuing his studies with larger and better appliances, and will be (as I expect) surprised to find how much there is to be seen and done, even by a working-man, within a day's walk of smoky Babylon itself; and how easily a man might, if he would, wash his soul clean for a while from all the turmoil and intrigue, the vanity and vexation of spirit of that "too-populous wilderness," by going out to be alone a while with God in heaven, and with that earth which He has given to the children of men, not merely for the material wants of their bodies, but as a witness and a sacrament that in Him they live and move, and have their being, "not by bread alone, but by EVERY word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Thus I wrote some twenty years ago, when the study of Natural History was confined mainly to several scientific men, or mere collectors of shells, insects, and dried plants.

Since then, I am glad to say, it has become a popular and common pursuit, owing, I doubt not, to the impulse given to it by the many authors whose works I then recommended. I recommend them still; though a swarm of other manuals and popular works have appeared since, excellent in their way, and almost beyond counting. But all honour to those, and above all to Mr. Gosse and Mr. Johns, who first opened people's eyes to the wonders around them all day long. Now, we have, in addition to amusing books on special subjects, serials on Natural History more or less profound, and suited to every kind of student and every grade of knowledge. I mention the names of none. For first, they happily need no advertisement from me; and next, I fear to be unjust to any one of them by inadvertently omitting its name. Let me add, that in the advertising columns of those serials, will be found notices of all the new manuals, and of all apparatus, and other matters, needed by amateur naturalists, and of many who are more than amateurs. Microscopy, meanwhile, and the whole study of "The Wonders of the Little," have made vast strides in the last twenty years; and I was equally surprised and pleased, to find, three years ago, in each of two towns of a few thousand inhabitants, perhaps a dozen good microscopes, all but hidden away from the public, worked by men who knew how to handle them, and who knew what they were looking at; but who modestly refrained from telling anybody what they were doing so well. And it was this very discovery of unsuspected microscopists which made me more desirous than ever to see - as I see now in many places - scientific societies, by means of which the few, who otherwise would work apart, may communicate their knowledge to each other, and to the many. These "Microscopic," "Naturalist," "Geological," or other societies, and the "Field Clubs" for excursions into the country, which are usually connected with them, form a most pleasant and hopeful new feature in English Society; bringing together, as they do, almost all ranks, all shades of opinion; and it has given me deep pleasure to see, in the case at least of the Country Clubs with which I am acquainted, the clergy of the Church of England taking an active, and often a leading, interest in their practical work. The town clergy are, for the most part, too utterly overworked to follow the example of their country brethren. But I have reason to know that they regard such societies, and Natural History in general, with no unfriendly eyes; and that there is less fear than ever that the clergy of the Church of England should have to relinquish their ancient boast - that since the formation of the Royal Society in the seventeenth century, they have done more for sound physical science than any other priesthood or ministry in the world. Let me advise anyone who may do me the honour of reading these pages, to discover whether such a Club or Society exists in his neighbourhood, and to join it forthwith, certain that - if his experience be at all like mine - he will gain most pleasant information and most pleasant acquaintances, and pass most pleasant days and evenings, among people whom he will be glad to know, and whom he never would have known save for the new - and now, I hope, rapidly spreading - freemasonry of Natural History.

Meanwhile, I hope - though I dare not say I trust - to see the day when the boys of each of our large schools shall join - like those of Marlborough and Clifton - the same freemasonry; and have their own Naturalists' Clubs; nay more; when our public schools and universities shall awake to the real needs of the age, and - even to the curtailing of the time usually spent in not learning Latin and Greek - teach boys the rudiments at least of botany, zoology, geology, and so forth; and when the public opinion, at least of the refined and educated, shall consider it as ludicrous - to use no stronger word - to be ignorant of the commonest facts and laws of this living planet, as to be ignorant of the rudiments of two dead languages. All honour to the said two languages. Ignorance of them is a serious weakness; for it implies ignorance of many things else; and indeed, without some knowledge of them, the nomenclature of the physical sciences cannot be mastered. But I have got to discover that a boy's time is more usefully spent, and his intellect more methodically trained, by getting up Ovid's Fasti with an ulterior hope of being able to write a few Latin verses, than in getting up Professor Rolleston's "Forms of Animal Life," or any other of the excellent Scientific Manuals for beginners, which are now, as I said, happily so numerous.

May that day soon come; and an old dream of mine, and of my scientific friends, be fulfilled at last.

And so I end this little book, hoping, even praying, that it may encourage a few more labourers to go forth into a vineyard, which those who have toiled in it know to be full of ever-fresh health, and wonder and simple joy, and the presence and the glory of Him whose name is LOVE. _

Read next: Appendix

Read previous: Part 5

Table of content of Glaucus; or The Wonders of the Shore


GO TO TOP OF SCREEN

Post your review
Your review will be placed after the table of content of this book