78 MICROSCOPIC ILLUSTRATIONS. 



time in the larva state, it buries itself in a hole, which it 

 forms for that purpose near the edge of the water, and 

 after passing through the crysalis state, it emerges in the 

 form of a perfect beetle. This is effected in two years 

 after issuing from the nest egg. 



On examining the older books on Entomology, I found, 

 in Roesal's work, (a book not noticed in Stephens' ela- 

 borate Catalogue of British Insects,) a small drawing of 

 this larva, from which it appears to be the Hydrophilus 

 caraboides. It is much to be regretted that modern 

 entomologists attend so little to the aquatic larvae of 

 insects ; for surely it will not be pretended that a 

 description of the creature in its perfect state constitutes 

 its history. I have often made inquiries of the first 

 entomologists of the day as to what insect a particular 

 larva would become, and have as often been unable to 

 obtain the slightest information. In some cases they 

 have doubted as to the order to which it belonged. It is 

 true that had I been unable to procure its generic and 

 specific names, that circumstance would not have ren- 

 dered it a whit less valuable as a microscopic object ; 

 and I do not pretend to treat of them with entomological 

 technicality. 



The engraving of the perfect Beetle at the commence- 

 ment of this chapter is taken, by permission, from Mr. 

 Curtis's British Entomology, , vol. iv., plate 159. 



