_Cyclops_ is so named on account of the fact that it possesses but a single eye; it is, however, rather an interesting creature in other respects, so we will study it more closely. Looking down upon the creature, we see that the front part of its body is composed of an undivided shield, behind which there are four plates and behind these again there are in the male five and in the female four segments or rings, at the extreme tip there is a forked tail, each fork being furnished with a number of bristles. On the head are two pairs of organs, one pair long the other pair short and, if we observe _Cyclops_ in the act of swimming, we shall see that the long pair of organs play the chief part. In the centre of the front of the head there is a black or red patch--the eye. Very frequently we may meet with a specimen carrying a relatively large bladder-like body on each side of its abdomen. These bladders which are each about one-third as long as the creature which carries them, are egg-sacs. If we are able to secure one or two specimens with egg-sacs attached, we can study the young _Cyclops_ without much difficulty. Take a small glass tube--a test-tube as used by chemists will serve admirably--partly fill it with pond water and add a little water weed, then introduce the egg-bearing females and place in the light. We must watch the tube from day to day, and before long it will be evident that the young ones have arrived in the world, for we shall have no difficulty in seeing dozens of little white specks swimming about in the water and settling on the sides of the tube. We must remove one carefully on the end of a glass rod or on a paint brush and examine it in a drop of water under the microscope. This young creature is totally unlike its parent, it is oval and possesses three pairs of stiff bristles, of which the first pair are simple and the other two pairs are branched. Although the bristles are used solely for swimming at this stage, it may be of interest to mention that in the adult _Cyclops_ they become transformed into jaws and the two pairs of organs we have already examined. At the front end of the oval body we can closely distinguish the single eye, which persists throughout life. CHAPTER VI PLANT LIFE IN PONDS AND STREAMS In this chapter we shall confine ourselves to the true water-dwelling plants, as distinct from those, such as the water lilies, which though never found growing on dry land, appear undecided whether they will be water plants or land plants. Looking at the matter from a more scientific point of view, all our pond plants will be much lower in the scale of development than the water lilies and other flowering plants.