Lesser Denizens. 65 



giad if any one would tell me. Of course, every one 

 knows that they find their food in the small micro- 

 scopical creatures which infest ponds, that they lay their 

 eggs in the water, and in it their nymphs emerge from 

 the pupa and develop their wings, and that, unlike 

 most creatures, they breathe through their tail, which, 

 though long and large, is not therefore a useless 

 appendage. But all this throws no light on their love 

 of a float, which cannot be appetising; and, as the 

 libellula are all so greedy, it is the more to be won- 

 dered at that they can choose to spend their time in 

 this apparently profitless way. How apt and clear 

 and exact is Lord Tennyson's picture in "The Two 

 Voices " : 



" To-day I saw the dragon-fly 

 Come from the wells where he did lie. 



An inner impulse rent the veil 

 Of his old husk ; from head to tail 

 Came out clear plates of shining mail. 

 He dried his wings ; like gauze they grew, 

 Through croft and pasture, wet with dew : 

 A living flash of light he flew." 



The lesser denizens of the pond are equally active. 

 You may see the water boatman swimming on his back 

 pleasant pastime mixed with business in his case, for 

 this is the law of nature ; if they do not take their 

 pleasures sadly, business is never quite neglected. 

 There he goes swimming on his back, making faint 

 triangular ripples behind him, as he propels himself 

 swiftly by the long cilia or hairs on each side of him 

 natural oarlets, which far surpass the finest feather- 

 ings yet made by man. And that little blue-black 

 bloodthirsty " whirligig " is here too, who, but half the 

 size of the boatman, will descend upon and capture 



E 



