MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 361 



every pool thus working their little legs with great rapi- 

 dity, and moving about in all directions. Some spiders 

 also will not only traverse the surface of the waters, but, 

 as you have heard with respect to one a , descend into 

 their bosom. There are other insects moving in this 

 way that are not divers. Of this kind are the aquatic 

 bugs (Gerris lacustris, Hydrometra Stagnorum, Velia 

 Rivulorum, &c. Latr.). The first can walk, run, and 

 even leap, which it does upon its prey, as well as swim 

 upon the surface. The second, remarkable for its ex- 

 treme slenderness, and for its prominent hemispherical 

 eyes which, though they are really in the head, appear 

 to be in the middle of the body rambles about in chase 

 of other insects, in considerable numbers, in most stag- 

 nant waters. The Velia is to be met with chiefly in run- 

 ning streams and rivers, coursing very rapidly over their 

 waves b . The two last species neither jump nor swim. 



I am next to say a few words upon the motions of in- 

 sects that burrow, either to conceal themselves or their 

 young. Though burrowing is not always a locomotion, 

 I shall consider it under this head, to preserve the unity 

 of the subject. Many enter the earth by means of fore- 

 legs particularly formed for the purpose. The flat den- 

 tated anterior shanks, with slender feet, that distinguish 

 the chafers (Petalocera) most of which in their first 

 states live under ground, and many occasionally in 

 their last enable them to make their way either into the 

 earth or out of it. Two other genera of beetles (Sca- 

 rites and Clivina, Latr. ) c have these shanks palmated, 

 or ^armed with longer teeth at their extremity, for the 



a VOL. I. 470. b Curtis Brit. Ent. t. ii. 



c PLATE XV. FIG. 5. 



