1 86 



Marvels ot the Universe 



against the egg-eating denizens of the pond. In about three weeks the young insects hatch. At 

 first they are minute and pale, but they begin to feed ahnost as soon as they leave the egg. and 

 rapidl}' attain a considerable size. They are now seen to bear a strange superficial likeness to 

 shrimps, and one scarcely' wonders that the old naturalists, who knew little about the amazing 

 metamorphoses of insects, actually classed them with animals of the crab and lobster kind. Yet 

 the young Diving Beetle is really ver)' different from a shrimp. It has a long, spindle-shaped body, 

 with six legs, and a broad flat head armed with sickle-shaped jaws. These jaws are marvellously 

 contrived feeding-organs. Each is traversed through its length b}' a hollow tube leading to the 

 closed mouth, so that when the insect fastens on its prey it can suck all the blood from the body 

 without once relinquishing its hold. This, indeed, is its habitual way of making a meal. More- 



rhoto hy'] 



THE DIVING BEETLE. 



[Ilinnl.l lUtsUn. 



The adult mal^ and female in their native element. Notice the sweep of the oar-liiie legs, and the comparative 



size of the Beetle's eye, 



over, its appetite is insatiable and its activity tireless. So that we maj' imagine it as skirmishing 

 among its native pond-weeds and pouncing upon one hapless victim after another, each of which 

 in turn is first sucked dry and then cast ruthlessly aside. It is, therefore, not without some 

 show of reason that juvenile students of pond-life know this grub by the name of the 

 water-tiger. 



This programme of slaughter continues for a period of from four to six weeks. During this 

 time the insect steadily increases in bulk, and repeatedly outgrows its skin — a little difficultj^ which 

 it as often surmounts by wriggling out of its old suit and appearing in a new one of more ample 

 proportions which has been perfected beneath. A.t length, having attained to its full size, the 

 beetle-grub prepares for its further change to the chrysalis condition. At this stage in its career 

 it crawls from the pond and constructs a rude cell high and dry within the bank. In this chamber 



