The Inhabitants of the Aquarium 285 



offers a fascinating subject for the careful 

 and patient observer. Their life, mating 

 and propagation, of which most of us are so 

 ignorant, are indeed well worth studying 

 and it pays to devote a few small glasses 

 to their use. To study the water insects 

 undisturbed, each species should be kept 

 apart. The amateur who takes pleasure in 

 going out with net and pail to collect his own 

 specimens, will find it an easy matter to 

 populate his glasses, as in hunting for fishes, 

 turtles or frogs, he will frequently find a 

 variety of insects in the net, or in the dense 

 bunches of aquatic vegetation growing in 

 shallow waters. 



INSECTS. 



The Yellow-bordered Water Beetle (Dytis- 

 cus marginalis), which is one of the best 

 known of all the water beetles, is about one 

 and one quarter inches long and three quar- 

 ters of an inch broad. Its color is almost 

 black with a dark olive green luster, the 



