COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS, 
141 
surface of each marked with eleven striae or longi- 
tudinal lines composed of minute punctures. The 
breast is pitch red, and the terminal segment of the 
abdomen, together with the legs, is of a ferruginous 
hue. 
The following lively account of the manners of 
this species is given by a popular writer. “ Water, 
quiet, still water, affords a place of action to a very 
amusing little fellow, which, about the middle of 
April, if the weather be tolerably mild, we see gam- 
boling upon the surface of the sheltered pool ; and 
every schoolboy, who has angled for minnows in the 
brook, is well acquainted with this merry swimmer 
in his shining black jacket. Retiring in the autumn, 
and reposing all the winter in the mud at the bot- 
tom of the pond, it awakens in the spring, rises to 
the surface, and commences its summer sports. 
They associate in small parties of ten or a dozen, 
near the bank, where some little projection forms a 
bay, or renders the water particularly tranquil ; and 
here they w ill circle round each other without con- 
tention, each in his sphere, and w r ith no apparent 
object, from morning until night, w r ith great spright- 
liness and animation ; and so lightly do they move on 
the fluid, as to form only some faint and transient 
circles on its surface. Very fond of society, we 
seldom see them alone, or, if parted by accident, 
they soon rejoin their busy companions. One pool 
commonly affords space for the amusement of seve- 
ral parties ; yet they do not unite or contend, but 
