CHAPTER IV. 



WATER-BOATMEN. 



T faith, you are too angry." 



Taming of the Shrew. 



Notonecta glauca. 



BUGS have tempers. I had as lief be a hornet 

 as a water -boatman. The excitable disposition 

 is just about the same. Buzz, jump, hop, defiance 

 in every motion. One day, in my absence, a way- 

 ward cat thought to lie down to calm repose upon 

 the steps where an open bottle of bugs stood. 

 But alas for that cat's calculations ! Either pussy 

 had a day-mare during her slumbers, or else she 

 sat down wrong, for thump ! went the bottle, and 

 the steps were deluged with a shower of " bugs " 

 of all sizes and descriptions. 



