94 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



insects. Perhaps when the child is older, and 

 when she better understands the murderous charac- 

 ter of many water-beetles, she will not be so ready 

 to name herself after them. For the carnivorous 

 water-beetles are as bloodthirsty as were the mob 

 that Machiavelli tells us tore poor Ser Nuto to 

 pieces. Says that chronicler : " Ser Nuto being 

 brought by the mob into the court, was suspended 

 from the gallows by one foot ; and those around 

 having torn him to pieces, in little more than a 

 moment nothing remained of him but the foot by 

 which he had been tied." 



Scarcely so large a remnant as that is left of 

 some victims after the water-beetles have done 

 with their prey. 



The willows border all the stream here for a 

 short distance. They spring up at irregular inter- 

 vals in other portions. In early June one may 

 walk among these trees and note the many galls 

 that swell out from the willow leaves. The galls 

 are about as big as cherry-stones, or bigger, and 

 there is usually one gall to a leaf, though two are 

 not uncommon, and I have found a leaf with 

 four. Open one of these galls and you will find 

 a very small, yellowish-white worm with six legs 

 and a brown head. Look at the head under a 

 microscope, and the worm appears exactly as if he 

 had clapped on a brown night-cap. This night- 

 cap is hairy, and two black eyes stick out of it. 

 It is very hard work for the worm to walk on 



