Seen thus in early March, the 

 observer is apt to look upon them 

 as eager heralds of spring, perhaps 

 the first signs of returning life in 

 animated nature. I have somewhere 

 read of the early appearance of the Gyrinus being in- 

 stanced as a sign of an advanced spring, but the infer- 

 ence is gratuitous. We may look for him' almost any 

 moderate winter's day ; certainly, at least, any genial 

 day that could tempt us out-of-doors has seen him 

 there before us. Their whirling swarms have surprised 

 many a winter walker even Thoreau, who has 

 ^ much to say of them. In his notes of January 

 lf 24, 1858, he writes: 



4 "At Nut Meadow Brook the small- 



sized water-bugs are as abundant 

 and active as in summer. I see 

 forty or fifty circling together 



