WHIRLIGIGS. 91 



1. Middle-sized Spiders. (Often taken alive, on the 



whirl.) 



2. Dead Flies. 



3. Live black gnat-worms. 



4. Live Aphides. 



5. Dead small Moths. 



6. Dead Daddy Long-Legs. 



7. Dead Mosquitoes. 



I think that Whirligigs are cannibals, since I 

 have found them floating dead in the jar with 

 their heads off. Still, I never saw a Whirligig 

 kill another, but appearances are against them. 



Whirligigs seem to regard ants as unworthy 

 partners in this dance of death and discard them. 

 I should not think myself that an ant would be 

 very good eating. 



I do not remember ever having seen a jump- 

 ing-spider discomfited by these beetles. The 

 Whirligigs will skim by and longingly nip at a 

 jumping-spider's toes, but evidently there is con- 

 siderable fear mingled with the admiration, even 

 though the beetles must see that the spider is in 

 an element to which he is unused. 



Smaller varieties of spiders are speedily dis- 

 posed of. I was once present at a duel between 

 one of these spiders and a Whirligig, in which 

 I thought at first that the black-mailed warrior 

 would be forced to yield, for the spider waved 

 his legs over the Whirligig's head and evidently 

 was quite anxious to bite him. But the Whirl- 



