White. — On Arachnids. 409 



■say. At intervals a " boatman " would come to the surface 

 and then dart away in a horizontal direction. A favourite 

 amusement was to rush furiously at another of their kind and 

 " ram " him in the middle of the body with the head and 

 then go off in another direction, not staying to do battle, or 

 to give the injured one an opportunity to retaliate. 



I took particular notice to see if the "boatmen" ate or 

 otherwise interfered with the minute Arachnids ; but they 

 seemed to pay no attention to them, nor did the smaller 

 creatures show any sign of fear or hurry in the presence of a 

 "boatman." Not having any microscopical appliances with 

 me, or time to make further study of these small Arachnids, 

 I am unable to give further information on the subject, and 

 perhaps may never see the like again. 



The pool of water is still there, but a large fire has passed 

 over the land, and, all shelter being now removed, it is not 

 likely that these ci-eatures would find the pool a suitable posi- 

 tion to increase- and multiply as heretofore. 



I forwarded a description of the habits of these little objects 

 to one who is well versed in these subjects, but he said that 

 such had not come under his observation. They certainly 

 are of a sort which are seldom seen, and, I would suppose, 

 difficult to find. The speed with which the single Arachnids 

 skated over the water was something marvellous ; but in the 

 clumps where they collected about an insect body close atten- 

 tion had to be given to make certain they were not dust par- 

 ticles wafted by the breeze over the surface of the pool. 



