436 TRA.YSFORMATIOXS OF INSECTS. 



Duges saw the eight legs of the perfect insect forming beneath 

 the transparent skin of the nymph, whose body was smooth, oval, 

 and just like a little yellow tgg. After a while a tiny brilliant 

 red Trombidion came forth, small, but with eight legs, and it was 

 a perfect spider with tracheae. These mites die if left for a short 

 period in water, and they live by sucking the juices of the 

 creatures upon which they are parasitic, such as the spider just 

 mentioned, the daddy-long-legs fly, and others. 



The HydracJinidcB, or water ticks or mites, are spiders with 

 tracheae and unsegmented bodies that undergo metamorphosis, 

 the larvae being very unlike the perfect insect, and only having 

 six legs. All the water ticks may be recognised by their hairy 

 legs, so well adapted for swimming, and by the peculiar shape 

 of their palpi, which enable them to cling on to plants and stones 

 as if with anchors. These mites have a sort of plastron, which 

 is formed by their flat, broad, and adherent haunches. 



The Harlequin, Atax histrioiiims, lays its transparent eggs in 

 layers, which look like so much gum, and the larvae which are 

 hatched from them are aquatic. The larvae have six legs, a 

 flat almond-shaped body, with two large eyes, and the belly is 

 reddish in colour, whilst the legs are blue. The adult has eight 

 legs, and also numerous little points on the back, which secrete a 

 viscous matter that forms into a web, in which the creature can 

 live and breathe air whilst pursuing its usual life under water. 



The males of the genus Diplodontus are very sociable, and so 

 are the females ; and little swarms of them may be noticed 

 enjoying the warmth of the shallows. When thus disposed they 

 often run great risks, for instead of watching the fall of the water 

 on the mud, they allow it to take place suddenly, without their 

 moving off, and then many a happy coterie is dried up and 

 destroyed. The larvae, like all the others, have six legs, and turn 

 into immobile nymphs, which are watched with amusing polite- 

 ness by the adult males. Wives appear to be at a premium 

 amongst these spiders, and the males make up their minds about 

 their future courtship before the nymphs are transformed ; hence 

 the funny hugging and constant squeezing which are bestowed by 

 the amorous eight-legged set upon the quiet and totally uncon- 

 scious ladies in futiiro. When the egg-laying is going on the 



