mud-turtles of Providence Township, your experiments with the
fresh-water lobster, all stimulated my enthusiasm in a
scientific direction, which has crystallized in this helpful
little book, dedicated to you.

Pray accept it as an insignificant payment on account for all
I owe to you.

THE AUTHOR.




PREFACE


It appears to the writer that there is urgent need of more "nature
books"--books that are scraped clear of fiction and which display only
the carefully articulated skeleton of fact. Hence this little volume,
presented with some hesitation and more modesty. Various chapters
have, at intervals, appeared in the pages of various publications. The
continued narrative is now published for the first time; and the
writer trusts that it may inspire enthusiasm for natural and
scientific research, and inculcate a passion for accurate observation
among the young.

THE AUTHOR.

_April 1, 1904._