WHIRLIGIGS. 85 



Whirligig after catching one. As a youth once 

 said to me, after looking at my bottle of captured 

 Whirligigs, " They act as if they were crazy." 

 Moreover, Whirligigs can climb glass, and if one 

 takes off the mosquito-bar carelessly from the 

 bottle, as likely as not a Whirligig drops over 

 the side. It is a good thing that these Gyrinidce 

 cannot walk well. If they could walk out of 

 water as well as they can dash around 011 top of 

 that element, there would be 110 catching them. 

 As it is, however, they are easily caught on dry 

 land, for they have to move at a pace that must 

 be exasperatingly slow to them, since their feet 

 are not suited to crawling. Then it is that one 

 may observe the relative difference in the pairs 

 of legs of these Gyrlnidce ; the first pair being 

 the longest and capable of being suddenly thrust 

 out at the prey, and the hind pair being flat like 

 oars, but like oars with short handles, not long 

 ones, as in the Water-Tigers. The Dytiscidce 

 have long hind legs, the Gyrinidce long fore 

 ones. 



"They call them 'good -luck bugs,'" said a 

 little fellow to me once at the brook, as he looked 

 upon the Whirligigs. 



" What do they call them that for ? " asked I, 

 in search of information. 



" Because they bring good luck," answered the 

 boy, confidently. 



"Do they?" 



