124 THE BROOK BOOK 



When we got back to the laboratory we sorted 

 our material, exchanged specimens and established 

 our live creatures in the still-water aquaria we had 

 prepared before setting forth. The Bookworm, so 

 called because his devotion was about equally divided 

 between books and insects, came round and read 

 aloud what he had found about whirligig beetles. 



"The Gyrinidae are aquatic during the greater 

 part of their lives, only the short pupa stage being 

 spent out of the water. The adults are easily dis- 

 tinguished by their elliptical bodies and whirling 

 movements. The hind and middle legs are broad 

 and much flattened, being used as oars. The eyes 

 of these beetles are most remarkable. Upon close 

 examination they are found to be four in number 

 apparently. The sharp margin of the body divides 

 the eye of each side into two parts, of which one 

 looks up, the other down. A most convenient 

 arrangement this would seem to a creature situated 

 as the whirligig is. When disturbed the whirligig 

 beetle dives swiftly, never failing to carry with it 

 a bubble of air." 



With one accord we rose and flocked over to 

 the broad glass aquarium where a dozen of the lively 

 creatures had been put. Luckily it was not "labo- 

 ratory hours " and we could be as informal as we 

 liked. The. Bookworm thrust his pencil into the 

 midst of the spinning beetles and they went down 

 like magic. Looking through the glass sides of 

 the aquarium we could see them darting among the 

 water plants. Each one had his own particular 

 sphere of silvery white just at the tip of the wing 



