WATER-BOATMEN. 53 



" Oh, how they hopped ! " said the one who ran 

 to the rescue, in relating afterwards the mis-ad- 

 venture. " They acted as if they hated me." 



And if, as I think may have been, the Water- 

 boatmen were among the suddenly-landed u bugs," 

 I have no doubt that they expressed their defi- 

 ance in a series of hops that plainly told that 

 they had " let their angry passions rise." Woe 

 to the person that receives a prick from the pro- 

 boscis of some of these creatures, for that person 

 shall suffer as though stung by a wasp. 



On a sunshiny day there is great excitement in 

 the Water-boatman jar. Continued little click- 

 ings may be heard, made by the hitting of the 

 bugs' heads against the sides of the glass jar. 

 The surface of the water is surrounded with boat- 

 men that have turned right-side up and are pre- 

 paring their wings for flight. Every few minutes 

 one of them soars upward, only to have his as- 

 pirations shocked by hitting against the mosquito- 

 bar that covers the top of the bottle, and by being 

 knocked back into the water, there either to try 

 it over again or to disappear beneath the surface, 

 where it is to be hoped the cool waves quench 

 Notonecta's anger. At such times as this even 

 calm Ranatra's disposition was corrupted by the 

 evil world about him, and he elevated his head, 

 and clawed at the glass above, as if he too would 

 crawl out. 'Shall I set them all at liberty ? How 

 then shall I learn their habits ? Do they then 



