224 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



The Boatman. 



One of the things that ai once strike the most casual observer wlio may be 

 induced to give attention to the common objects of a stagnant pond is the boatman ^ 



— whose title usually suffers the 

 unnecessary elongation to water- 

 boatman. It is conspicuous because 

 it lies on the surface, back down- 

 wards, with its head slightly under 

 water and its long, hind pair of 

 legs stretched out almost at right 

 angles with the body, like a boat- 

 man with his oars ready for action. 

 The boatman is one of the bugs 

 who has become finely modified to 

 fit his mode of life. The majority 

 of bugs have the upper and under 

 sides not very far apart ; but if we 

 catch a boatman— at the risk of 

 getting a pin-prick from his sharp 

 proboscis — and turn him right side 

 up, we shall find that his thick- 

 ness is more than half his width, 

 the back being shaped like a ridge- 

 roof. Turn it the way in which we 

 found it on the water, and you see 

 that we have here Nature's anti- 

 cipation of the boat — the form 

 that will best maintain a floating 

 body in a position of stability. 

 The ridge of the back has becom.e 

 the keel of the boat. There is, 

 however, an anomaly here, for the 

 bow and the stern have changed 

 places. The boatman, when in 

 pursuit of prey, sets his oars in 

 motion and pushes his broad head 

 forward. If in this pursuit he has 

 had to go deeply into the water, 

 he has no difficulty in regaining the 

 surface, for unless he takes hold of 

 a submerged weed his buo3'ant 

 body floats up at once, without 

 any use of his limbs. On such an 

 excursion the boatman does not 



Pho'.os ft).] [J. J. Wind, F.E.S. 



The Lobster-Caterpillar. 

 It is from the strange form of the caterpillar that the name lobster has bun 

 applied to the moth; though it must be confessed that there is lit tl<' 

 resemblance to the crustacean. When quite young it looks much like an ant. 

 In later life it may be passed over as a curlcd-up, withered leaf ; whilst 

 vievyed from the rear or side its elevated hind-body has some resemblance 

 to a reptile's head with forked tongue protruded. 



Notonecta glauca. 



