64 INSECT LIFE IN POND AND STREAM 



eggs some little distance away from the water ; 

 but no matter how far off they may be, the 

 little creatures start off for the pond the 

 moment they appear in the world. Whether 

 or no they ever take the wrong direction and 

 lose their way I am not able to tell you, but 

 the chances are that most of the funny little 

 things, after much wriggling, find themselves 

 safely in the water. 



For a whole year the children of the Alder- 

 fly live in the water. Then they crawl out 

 of the pond and take another overland 

 journey. Sometimes one of these strange 

 little creatures will travel five or six yards, 

 and even climb over a fence before it finds 

 what it considers a safe and comfortable 

 resting-place, which seems a surprisingly long 

 walk for a little insect hardly an inch long to 

 take ; then, when it is tired of wandering, the 

 larva scoops out a little bedroom for itself 

 in the soil, and goes to sleep until it has 

 changed to an Alder-fly. 



The pretty, graceful May-flies that appear 

 suddenly in immense swarms, to dance gaily 

 over the ponds and streams for a few short 

 hours, have come floating up from the water 

 where they lived as little crawling creatures 



