294 WHIRLWIGS AND BOATMEN. 



place of long rigid limbs and angular movements, lie displays 

 in his circular gyrations and oval form, something of beauty, 

 in his polished corselet, something of brightness, and in his 

 social sportiveness, something of good fellowship. He and 

 his merry mates, not the less destroyers, are the little Whirl- 

 wigs,*- those bluish-black diamond-like Beetles, which few 

 can have failed to notice, whirling about on every pool. 

 Their playful evolutions would seem, however, but a passe- 

 temps in intervals of sterner business, that of putting a full 

 and fatal stop to the sports of other water-revellers, weaker 

 than themselves. 



That topsy-turvy imp of darkness, which in proportion to 

 its superior magnitude creates yet greater ravages among his 

 fellows of the flood (those before named included) is the Water- 

 Boatman.f Swimming on his back, legs upwards, tail touching 

 the surface, head inclined downwards, he waits, motionless, on 

 the look-out for prey, till, on the least alarm, he rows off with, 

 infinite speed by help of the hairy fringe, with which his hinder 

 feet are thickly bordered. As well as with oars, our boatman 

 is provided with wings, useless in water, but serving in case 

 of drought, and failure, in consequence, of his native element, 

 as a means of transport to some new scene of violence. 



But these which, appear upon the surface are only a few, 

 and not the most terrible amongst the devourers of pond and 

 streamlet, for gliding through the depths below, or lurking 



* Gyrinus natator. t Kotonecta glauca, or furcata. 



