LECTURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 18 August 1913, Page 5

LECTURE.

v CREEK AND POND LIFE. At the Technical School, Masterton* on Saturday, Mr 0. A. Cumming, agricultural. instructor to the Wellington Education Board, delivered a lecture to teachers on "The creek and pond as a theme for Nature study." Over, seventy representatives of the Wairarapa schools attended ans evinced) the greatest interest in the lecture. Pleasant recollections of Mr Gumming's previous lecture no doubt contributed to this" satisfactory attendance. .

r Mr Cumming dealt in a very, interesting manner with the jriant life, showing the arrangements by which variou.s_plant s are propagated. He also, of living specimen 6, demonstrated the profusion mal life to be found in any pond or creek. Many of the aquatic insects, sufcli a caddis and the larvae of many common winged insects, lived under water, but there were also those that) lived oh the surface, running nimbly about on the strong surface film. Among the former, the larvae of the dragon fly was particularly interesting. It was most ..voracious, and by means of an arm terminating in" a pair of strong pinches, seized an'd devoured any smaller inhabitant of the pond. The larvae of the may fly when fully developed became an insect, which, having no means of feeding, lived only long enough to fay its eggs. An . inter«sting fact about the sand flies and mosquitoes, whose larvae also lived under water, was that only the females wefe able to bite. Those insects which" live on the surface are unable to break through the film if they by, any accident find themselves under water, and so are drowned. An interesting point about the water snails is that one variety is the host of the liver fluke which is at present affecting sheep at Poverty Bay. There are also many specimens of pond life, such as the amoeba, "which can only b© by means of a microscope, but as. so many schools are now equipped with microscopes investigation can be carried out by their help. The lecturer emphasised the point that it is mot necessary for the student to know a great deal about the subject before hand. In fact, it was better for him to learn as he went along, from actual observation.

On tEe motion of the president a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Gumming.

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