CHAPTER IX. 
AQUATIC INSECTS, ETC. 
on those intending to devote their at¬ 
tention to the observation, by means 
of Aquaria, of the singular metamor- 
pj phoses of those insects which pass the 
whole or part of their existence in water, 
a special and distinct work might he 
written, full of interesting and curious 
facts. In the present place, however, an allusion to 
a few of the most prominent must suffice, as in a 
general description of all kinds of animal life suited 
to an Aquarium, the more conspicuous classes ne¬ 
cessarily occupy the greatest portion of our space, 
and are treated of in the greatest detail. 
Among the larva stages of water-insects, those 
of the great Water Beetles are perhaps the most 
remarkable. That of the Margined Beetle, Dyticus 
marginalis (Plate III., No. 1), is a singular, scorpion¬ 
like creature, whose unprepossessing appearance has 
gained for him the unenviable appellation of the 
“ water-devil.” He scarcely belies his name—or that 
of the water-tiger, by which he is also known—as 
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