WATER-SCORPIONS. 21 



beetles, and their rafts are as much smaller as 

 they themselves are smaller than the scorpion- 

 bugs. Other water - creatures crawl over the 

 pieces of wood, to be sure, but they do not seem 

 to care about sailing. It seems to be an amuse- 

 ment original with the scorpion-bugs. 



If one comes upon the jar suddenly, one will 

 see the scorpions making a hurried descent to the 

 bottom of the jar, their wicked-looking front legs 

 thrust out before them. Arriving at the bottom 

 and becoming assured almost immediately that 

 there is no real danger, they seize something, 

 perhaps a cast-off egg-foundation, and rise with it 

 to the surface of the water once more. Scorpion- 

 bugs have a habit, when sitting or hanging on a 

 piece of wood in the water, of passing the front 

 feet over the head, as one sees a fly do. 



These water - scorpions have often a peculiar 

 sign that precedes their death. A few days be- 

 fore that event the body gapes wide open, as 

 though the creature had been sliced by a knife 

 which had been passed horizontally under the 

 wings, between them and the body, leaving the two 

 pressed widely apart. This gaping of the body 

 is generally, though perhaps not always, a fatal 

 sign, and it is certainly a very noticeable one. 

 When the cold days of winter come, one will some- 

 times find the bottom of the jar covered with dead 

 scorpion-bugs, their bodies gaping wide open. 



But words cannot describe the horrifying ap- 



