236 NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
held by the fine hairs which cover the body. 
When cold weather comes on, in common with 
the other creatures of the pond, they sink to the 
bottom and hibernate in the mud. If perchance 
their pool dries up in the heat of summer, they 
take to their wings and hunt a new location. 
While en route on this business, they are fre¬ 
quently attracted by an electric light and swirl 
blunderingly about it with moth-like insaneness. 
The beak of the water boatman is sharp enough 
to pierce one’s finger, and the effect is much like 
that of a bee sting. The eggs are attached in 
masses to the under water stems of plants. Mex¬ 
ican Indians and half-breeds are fond of these 
eggs baked in a cake with meal. They are said 
to have a pungent acrid flavor. The boatmen 
themselves are shipped by the ton to England as 
food for game birds, poultry, and fish, one ton 
containing around twenty-five million of the in¬ 
sects. 
“ Closely resembling the boatmen is another 
queer race of bugs called the back-swimmers, but 
they are easily distinguished, as these creatures 
always swim flat on their backs with their belly 
upwards. Then, too, they carry a large ballast 
of air below with them, and are obliged to hold 
fast with their fore legs to some stone or a water 
plant to keep from rising. They are pirates of 
particular strength, being able to overcome a 
