Metamorphoses of Plumed Gnat.
"I would prefer their staying down below; they bite me," answered Jimmy.
Crawling along the bottom were numbers of caddis-worms in tube-like cases made of sticks and stones. Inside these cases are the plump white grubs which turn into flies.
"Where the bottom is gravelly these caddis-worms make their cases of little stones," said Frank.
"Yes, and I read the other day that an experiment had been tried by some one, who took some out of their nests and put them into an aquarium with some finely-broken glass of different colours, and the caddis-worms made their cases of this broken coloured glass, and very pretty they looked."
"Their own bodies must supply the glue which fastens the pieces of gravel or glass together?"
"Yes, it does."
As the fish were biting very badly the boys left the broad early and went for a stroll. While passing through the village they saw a sale of stock going on in the open space round which the houses were ranged. They stopped to look on. The goods which were being sold were the stock in trade of a chemist, and among them were three large glass bowls, such as are used for aquaria. These were put up by the auctioneer in one lot, but there was no bid for them. They were articles not in request in that rural district.