WATER-BOATMEN— BACK-SWIMMERS 129 



tion of the mill-pond. No doubt he would find 

 pleasant company there. I captured the next one 

 that came within reach, and warily avoiding his 

 proboscis, concerning which I had been warned, 

 I forced him to submit to an examination. No 

 wonder he could fly ! There, under what ap- 

 peared to be a seamless coat of mail, were wings 

 well able to bear him far away. His little trip to 

 the water tank was perhaps but one of many such 

 adventures into the world. The one I had cap- 

 tured took rather unkindly to qiy investigations. 

 He seemed vindictive, and had he been given any 

 chance would surely have punctured my fingers. 

 Was it spite or fear, I wonder, which made him 

 rush round and round in the long-handled tin 

 dipper in which I had caught him, striking vio- 

 lently against the sides? I caught two or three 

 more and put them all together in a pail. What 

 a clatter they made, leaping against the cover and 

 upon each other in their headlong rush ! I gave 

 them a very comfortable home in the low, broad 

 aquarium in my study and later transferred them 

 to the pond again, but not until I had learned 

 much of their ways. 



The name "back-swimmer" is a translation of 

 the generic name Notonecta, and is most descrip- 

 tive, referring to the fact that they swim with their 

 backs downward and their heels "in the air," as it 

 were. Their keeled backs and oar -shaped legs 

 make them look like tiny boats. 



The back-swimmers are said to spend the cold 

 weather buried in the mud at the bottom of the 



