“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.