As this small creature is a fat and luscious morsel for the fishes, and as supplies are not always obtainable easily, I will give instructions here for breeding them.

In the first place procure half a dozen jam jars and fill them with water that has stood in the air for a few hours, but not water from a rain-water butt. Into each jar place a few daphnae. The next item is to breed a good crop of infusoria, for on these lowly animals daphnae feed. The infusoria, in their turn, live on the dissolved organic matter, etc., in the water, and so they have to be fed. This can be done by boiling hay, spinach, lettuce leaves or, believe it or not, banana skins, in water. When the infusion is cold a small amount of water known to contain infusoria is poured in. The infusoria will then breed so rapidly that the water will be turned a brownish-green. The best infusorian, if it can be isolated, is a flat oval individual known as paramoecium, incidentally it is the largest and is just visible to the unaided eye. If the infusion is allowed to stand in a sunny spot for a day or so, dried infusorians blown from some dried up pond, or puddle even, may infect it ; but this method is not always successful. A small bottle of ' green ' water can be obtained easily enough from a water butt or a friend's pond if the water in your own is too clear.

Having, then, obtained a fair quantity of green water, a spoonful or so is added each day to the jars containing the daphnae. It is a good plan to have a piece of lettuce or banana skin in the daphnae jars as well. When the water in the jars looks too clear further infusoria water can be added. If there is sufficient food the daphnae will soon multiply and when it is considered that they have done so prolifically the contents of the first jar can be poured into the pond or aquarium. Fill the jar with water straight away, there are bound to be a few stragglers left in the remaining drops.