LUNCH BY THE BROOKSIDE. 77 



Q-yrinus natator. We have all seen them looking 

 so trim and tight in their steel-blue armor, whirl- 

 ing about eacli other by means of invisible legs, 

 or huddling together side by side in the sociable 

 fashion. If we manage to catch one he will prove 

 worth looking at, as much so as an elephant, when 

 one gets his eyes open and full of curiosity to learn 

 of everything. With a little pocket glass we may 

 plainly see that there are two prominent beetle 

 eyes on each side of the head. These are joined 

 side by side, and when the beetle is on the water 

 the lower eye is under the surface and the upper 

 one out of water. This is a very convenient ar- 

 rangement for a creature with fish enemies be- 

 neath him and bird enemies above him. Now 

 this beetle belongs to a group of insects that are 

 good crawlers, as a rule, but if we capture one of 

 those " whirligigs, " and let him try to walk, we 

 will see that he cannot " get a move on him, " as 

 the boys say. His limbs have become oars and 

 paddles and graspers. 



I say they have become thus, because there is 

 abundant evidence to show that they are de- 

 scendants of beetles that lived on the land, and 

 crawled and flew, as most of them do now. In 

 the always hard struggle for existence the dis- 

 tant forefathers of the " whirligigs " came to 

 frequent banks of streams and ponds, as good 



