16 INSECT LIFE IN POND AND STREAM 



who have passed the winter months asleep in 

 the mud at the bottom of the pool. But 

 towards the end of summer crowds of little 

 Whirligigs appear, all playing their favourite 

 game of " here we go round the mulberry 

 bush " so cleverly, that however fast they 

 whirl they never bump into one another. 



The Whirligig larva is a funny little thing, 

 long and very thin with an extremely tiny 

 head. It looks just like a centipede, for it 

 appears to have a leg on every -one of its body 

 rings. The first three pairs are true legs, but 

 the others are really breathing tubes or gills, 

 through which the little creature extracts the 

 oxygen from the water ; for while it is a larva 

 the Whirligig lives below, and does not draw 

 its supply of air from above, as the grown-up 

 beetles do. 



It is a most active, and very hungry, little 

 animal, always chasing tiny insects and 

 gobbling them up ; and if another water 

 creature turns the tables on the little Whirligig 

 larva and tries to catch it, it skips and hops 

 about in the most surprising manner. Under 

 its tail the larva has four tiny hooks which 

 act as a spring, enabling the wee creature to 

 jump about with great agility. 



