298 Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles 



sward was gone, the beautiful trees were cut down, 

 the banks of the stream were cut, bruised and torn 

 b}^ the sharp-shod feet of horses. No more little 

 fish could be seen and even the whirligigs and 

 skaters had disappeared, while the stream itself was 

 nothing but liquid mud. 



But this happened a long time ago, and there 

 are other streams and a new crop of youngsters to 

 enjoy them. There is a brook on the writer's farm 

 in Connecticut and there the skaters and whirligigs 

 and all the little people of the brook flourish and 

 the author's own little boy and little girl never tire 

 of feeding the gliders ^ith flies and other insects 

 which they catch for them. 



The water and its inhabitants are very beautiful 

 and very interesting, but as a rule they seem to be 

 very savage creatures which inhabit the brooks and 

 ponds — even more so, if possible, than those which 

 inhabit the land. The Caddice worms and a few 

 other under-water people live on vegetation, but 

 the rest of them seem to Hve on each other. Still, 

 they are not parasites nor dead-beats; they belong 

 to the higher order of hunters and fishermen, and 

 the hunting animal or insect must have intelligence 

 in order to succeed. 



