WATER HOUSES 81 



Water-beetles leave the water and rest in 

 the ground or in silken cocoons while they 

 are changing to perfect insects, then they 

 return to their old house once more. The 

 restless Dragon-fly comes from the pool and 

 wastes no time in turning to a lovely winged 

 insect. The Gnat floats to freedom on its 

 little raft. The Sand-fly and the Caddis-fly 

 both rest beneath the water ; yet while one is 

 carried up through the water in a crystal ball 

 of air, the other climbs up the rushes with 

 its funny long legs, and does not split its skin 

 until it is high and dry. 



Yet surely there is one way, you think, in 

 which the flies that come from the ponds and 

 streams must all be alike. When once they 

 have donned their gauzy wings they can never 

 return to the water again. 



Not so. There are a few flies that creep 

 down the stems of the water weeds to lay 

 their eggs beneath the water. And " curiouser 

 and curiouser ,"as Alice said when she wandered 

 through Wonderland, there is actually a wee 

 four-winged fly which chooses to live in the 

 water. There it creeps about on the weeds 

 below the surface, or swims here and there 

 in a jerky way, using its tiny wings as oars ! 



