74 



NATURE STUDY 



that of the back-swimmers ? Note that the long oar-like legs are 

 the hind-most pair, not the middle pair, as in the case of the back- 

 swimmer. The water-boatmen, like the back-swimmers, suck 

 the blood of other insects by means of a beak, and have wings. 



A third kind of water bug 

 may often be found resting 

 or crawling at the bottom of 

 ponds. These are the giant 

 water- bugs, some kinds of which 

 are really giants among insects. 

 The larger ones, the true giant 

 water-bugs, are readily recog- 

 nizable by their size, their 

 bodies being an inch wide and 

 two and a half inches long. 

 They are not black like the 

 great water-beetles but a dingy 

 brownish gray. Their fore legs 

 are fitted for grasping and they 

 have a short, sharp beak pro- 

 jecting from the under side of 

 the head. Some of the members 

 of the giant water-bug family are smaller, a kind common 

 in California, being about an inch and a half long and about 

 half as wide (fig. 46). If you can find one of these giant water- 

 bugs put it into the aquarium and observe its manner of hiding. 

 It keeps itself concealed as well as possible under the stones at 

 the bottom. It is a blood-thirsty creature feeding, like the other 

 water-bugs, on the blood of other insects. The giant water-bugs 

 are so strong that they often seize and kill young fish. 



YOUNG DRAGON FLIES. Drag out with a rake some of the 

 decaying vegetation and muddy detritus from the bottom of a 

 stagnant pond, and you will almost certainly find in the slimy 



Fig. 46. A Giaut Water-bug (Serphus). 



