INSECTS I HAVE WATCHED 119 



I never realised in boyhood's days, as I do now, that this reveller 

 in the hot July sun passed through such a remarkable change 

 from the time when its very shadow sends a shudder through 

 the water in which it at first dwells, for, armed with a powerful 

 mask, which it shoots out to secure its victim, and strong jaws, 

 it is, as a larva, almost a match for any other creature of similar 

 stature. It propels itself through the water by means of a 

 siphon-tube running along the whole length of the body, and, as 

 it grows, so it casts its old larval skin, which is almost an exact 

 replica of its present self. But the time comes when the watery 

 home must be vacated, for a change is manifest in the once active 

 larva. It feels weary and ill-at-ease. It possesses a desire to 

 know something of the great world beyond the limits of the 

 wayside pond in which it has passed so many profitable hours. 

 Others of its fellows have succeeded in making their exit from 

 the depths beneath, and its goggle-eyes have become blurred 

 as the one left behind tried to follow them in their upward move- 

 ments. One emancipated brother, and then another, promised 

 to return to the forest pond to tell of the world above, but, as 

 Mrs Gatty has so fascinatingly told us in her memorable parables, 

 never a one came back. 



At last, all was ready for the great journey to the light and air 

 above. Almost inactive, the weary nymph for such it now is 

 climbs the stem of an aquatic plant, and, having anchored 

 itself, remains motionless. It needs rest from its exertions, and, 

 as it rests, the influence of light and air, and the mysterious 

 thing called life within, bring about a change preparatory to the 

 great awakening. 



All being ready, the moment of new birth is heralded, for 

 there is a sudden jerky movement, a complete somersault is 

 turned, the thorax of the old nymphal case splits asunder, and, 

 where there was one, there now appear to be two distinct forms 

 before us. Have our eyes deceived us ? The truth is that the 

 one is the old nymphal skin, or case, complete almost of itself, 

 and the other, as the stumpy but quivering wings disclose, is the 

 pulsating body of a new creature destined to play its part in the 

 economy of Nature. With enraptured flight it takes to wing, 

 and skims, unsteadily at first, but gaining courage " step by 

 step," over the green mantle of the silent pool in which it passed 

 the greater part of its existence, and of which it is now freed, 

 so as to career on unerring wings, backwards or forwards, through 

 the air, until death recalls it to Mother Earth. 



