78 INSECT LIFE IN POND AND STREAM 



then climbs up the stem of a plant until it is 

 above the surface of the water. When safely 

 in the air the pupa splits its skin, and soon 

 the little Caddis-fly is flitting away. 



CHAPTER X 



WATER HOUSES 



A CATERPILLAR is about the last insect one 

 would expect to find living beneath the water. 

 But then, the insect folk are so astonishing, 

 and often so contradictory in their ways, that 

 the more we learn about them the less sur- 

 prised we are at anything, however peculiar, 

 that they may do. 



The Caterpillar that chooses to make its 

 home in the water, is the larva of the China 

 Marks Moth, a small, prettily marked moth 

 that flies over marshlands, and round about 

 ponds and lakes. The Mother Moth lays her 

 eggs on the under-side of the leaves of water 

 plants, and when the little Caterpillars emerge 

 they at once take like ducks to the water. 



Most Caterpillars would be drowned if they 

 suddenly found themselves in a pond, but the 



