CH. IX.] COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 



147 



sun, and of a courageous warrior : of the sun, from 

 its head bemg surrounded with radiated projections, 

 the number of the joints of the feet equaUing the 

 thirty days of the month: of courage, from an idea 

 entertained that the insect was born of a male : and 

 of the world, because it rolled dung into little orbs. 

 Among those insects which reside in stagnant 

 water during their metamorphoses, we select the 

 water-beetle {Dytiscus marginalis), to show its pe- 

 culiar transformation. The larvae proceed from 

 eggs left in a singularly formed nidus of a silky sub- 

 stance, which is allowed by the parent to float on 

 the surface of the water : the part above is long 

 and tapering, as if to serve as a mark of some dis- 

 tinction. . After the period of ten or twelve days, 



they put on the form shown in the upper figure. 

 Tiiey are of a yellowish brown colour, measuring 

 two inches and a half in length, and rather transpa- 

 rent ; the body is covered with strong shields ; the 

 end of the abdomen is furnished with two long ap 



