164 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



material which prevents their becoming wet. It 

 is this repellent quality that probably causes a 

 dimple or depression of the surface, which, if you 

 look narrowly, you will discover round the mouth 

 of the tube." 



In summer time, the reader can scarcely fail of 

 the gratification of watching these most curious 

 creatures, for they abound in ditches, pools, and 

 the stagnant waters of artificial fountains. They 

 form a very curious object under the microscope, 

 and particularly in the gas microscope, or solar mi- 

 croscope, where the image of the larvse is thrown, 

 as in the case of the magic-lantern, upon a w r hite 

 sheet, or wall. Their curious writhings to and 

 fro, the energy they display in lashing about 

 their tails, so as to throw the few drops of water 

 in which they are imprisoned into mimic whirl- 

 pools, their occasional dartings down to the bot- 

 tom, and subsequent gentle rise up to the surface, 

 together with the terror into which countless minor 

 occupants of the same watery prison with them- 

 selves are thrown, when one of these comparative 

 giants plunges into the midst of them, form a 

 spectacle as unique as it is interesting and divert- 

 ing. A sharp eye, and a phial and cork, are the 



