PECULIAR MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 



381 



a, Ploiaria vagabunda, magnified. 6, Neides elegans^ magnified, 



which most, if not all animals, save man, can do 

 without instruction. The whirlwig beetle (Gyrinus 

 natator) can scarcely be said either to walk, run, or 

 swim, for, as we have taken some pains to ascertain, 

 it appears not to keep its * oary feet' plunged in 

 the water as it flits about, but strikes smartly out, 

 and suddenly folds them flat under its belly; on the 

 same principle as a waterman on the Thames may 

 be seen to give two or three quick pulls with his oars, 

 to put way, as he calls it, upon his wherry, and then 

 perking them up out of the water, lets it skim along 

 while he rests motionless. Thus does the little 

 whirlwig glide along the water as if by magic, for 

 we cannot see its feet moving on account of the 

 border of the wing cases (elytra) which overlap 

 them ; no more than we can discern the feet of a swan, 

 from their dark colour, resembling that of the water, 

 even when she skims about at a small distance from 

 the shore.* 



Most people must have been amused by observing 

 the groups of water insects which seem to delight in 



* J.R. 



