CHAPTER IX. 



itg^^ AQUATIC INSECTS, ETC. 



OR those intending to devote their at- 

 tention to the observation, by means 

 of Aquaria, of the singular metamor- 

 phoses of those insects which pass the 

 whole or part of their existence in water, 

 .a special and distinct work might be 

 written, full of interesting and curious 

 facts. In the present place, however, an allusion to 

 a few of the most prominent must suffice, as in a 

 general description of all kinds of animal life suited 

 to an Aquarium, the more conspicuous classes ne- 

 cessarily occupy the greatest portion of our space, 

 and are treated of in the greatest detail. 



Among the larva stages of water-insects, those 

 of the great "Water Beetles are perhaps the most 

 remarkable. That of the Margined Beetle, Dyticus 

 margmalis (Plate III., No. 1), is a singular, scorpion- 

 like creature, whose unprepossessing appearance has 

 gained for him the unenviable appellation of the 

 ' ' water-devil. ' ' He scarcely belies his name or that 

 of the water-tiger, by which he is also known as 



