Watchers at the Pond. Franklin Russell (3).

New York: Time Incorporated. 1961.

Why read it? Nature. A study of what happens within the setting of a pond as the seasons evolve. Ponds are teeming with life, much of it hidden from most people unless observed by a naturalist. The reader will discover the unseen world of the pond in winter, spring, summer, fall and back to winter again.

Ideas:

“The bursting green volvox, the budding youngsters of the hydras, the endless division of amoebae and  paramecia, all produced uncountable millions of new lives each day.” P. 162. ………. “The forest hummed softly with a legion of wings.” P. 169. ………. “The lungs of the pond were the leaves.” P. 170. ………. “Billions of leaves hung, rustled, whispered, gleamed, and flickered.” P. 170. ………. “…thousands of breathing valves, or stomata, through which the leaf inhaled carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen.” P. 171. ………. “The unwanted substance of this activity, oxygen, flooded over the pond and into the lungs and lives of all creatures in an invisible shower of water expelled by the leaves.” P. 171. ………. “In one summer, the trees would release more water than was contained in the pond.” P. 171. ………. “The pond’s surface was flatly gray, and its trees were stilled, waiting for the rain…no bird called; no life stirred.” P. 175.

To be continued.