AUGUST 165 



larva of the great water-beetle (Hydrophilus), largest 

 of all British coleoptera except the stag beetle, is even 

 more loathsome to look on, and few amateurs would 

 care to handle it. 



Many of these Coleoptera have the objectionable 

 faculty of discharging foetid fluid from various parts of 

 their bodies, which secures them from interference, 

 whether of meddlesome man or of hungry fish and 

 birds. Nevertheless, the structure of these creatures 

 well repays examination. So perfect is the adaptation 

 of means to end, that one is tempted sometimes to feel 

 dissatisfied with the mechanism of the human frame. 

 The swimming legs of the minute Gyrinus, or merry- 

 go-round, are most elaborately and masterly inventions, 

 with provision for feathering the little oars, and intricate 

 apparatus for shipping them. Watching a swarm of 

 these steely little dots whirling on the surface of some 

 back-water, one reflects how incalculably swift must 

 be the volition directing the movements of these 

 complex limbs, and incessantly altering the course 

 steered. 



On the other hand, how strangely imperfect seems 

 the arrangement whereby creatures hatched, grown, 

 and living constantly in the water cannot separate 

 dissolved oxygen for their own consumption, as fish 

 do, out of the surrounding medium, but, like whales, 

 must be visiting the surface perpetually for a renewal 

 of the supply. For this reason, those aquatic larvae 

 which have to pass through a motionless pupa stage, 

 mostly crawl out of the water and bury themselves in 



