80 THE GYRONECHINA. 



black beetles, busily engaged in the performance of a 

 most complicated dance on the surface of the water, 

 executing "spins and twirls/' which even Richard 

 Swiveller, Esq., of happy and facetious memory, could 

 scarcely have rivalled after the imbibition of an inde- 

 finite number of " modest quenchers." This joyous 

 little bettle is the Gyrinus natator, well known under 

 the appropriate English name of Whirligig. It is 

 the type of a small group of beetles, which has gene- 

 rally been united with the Hydradephaga by English 

 authors, but which is now usually regarded by 

 foreign entomologists as constituting an independent 

 group of the order Coleoptera, for which we may 

 adopt Mr. Kirby's name of GYRONECHINA*. 



As in the Hydradephaga the maxillse are terminated 

 by an acute hooked point, but the palpiform outer 

 lobe is either entirely wanting, or represented only by 

 a slender piece composed of a single joint. The man- 

 dibles are short, stout, broad, and deeply notched at 

 the tip ; the antennae, instead of being slender, thread- 

 like organs, form a short, ovate mass, from which 

 only the first two joints are excepted, and the second 

 of these is produced on the outside into a large ear- 

 like appendage ; and each eye is divided by a narrow 

 longitudinal partition into two distinct parts, so that 

 the creatures appear to have four eyes, two directed 

 upwards, and two downwards. The legs are of sin- 

 gular construction, and admirably fitted for the mode 

 of life of the animal, skimming about continually as 

 it does upon the surface of the water. The anterior 

 legs, which do not appear to be used in natation, are 

 the longest of all, and bent in such a way as to give 



* Gr. guros, a circle, necho, to swim. It is the family Gyri- 

 nidce of English entomologists. 



