Pond Life 
The largest are the larvae of the big 
water-beetle and the dragon-fly. This 
latter has a movable hand, which it keeps 
folded up over its face like a mask. 
When it is near its prey this hand shoots 
out and grasps it with a pair of curved 
claws, and holds it securely until it is 
devoured. When this voracious creature 
is full grown, it changes into a pupa; 
but, unlike the pupa of a moth or 
butterfly, it moves about and feeds as 
freely as it did before. Then, when it is 
ready for the final change, it crawls out 
of the water by means of a rush-stem or 
reed, or some other water-plant, the 
skin of its shoulders splits, and the 
dragon-fly appears. Not yet, however, 
in its full beauty and power of flight, for 
at first, like the newly born butterfly, its 
wings are small, limp, and useless. Very 
137 
