SILVER WATER BEETLES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 82, 5 April 1924, Page 16

SILVER WATER BEETLES

INSECT WHICH ISAILS IN A ■r ■ .'"SUBMARINE." . . '

Fifty; silver water . beetles have, jiist been installed, at the London Zoo, says "A.E.H." in the "Daily ; Chronicle.".. At one time this, beetle was. common in the ponds and ditches of England,1 but it has become' so' rare' that the 'Zoo has, for a long time, been unable to obtain British specimens. The newcomers formed a portion, ot a large consignment imported from' Italy. . With the;,exception of the stag beetle, the silver water .beetle is ; the largest British beetle,' and probably the most interesting... 1 • • Visitors to. tho Zoo will no doubt have the opportunity of witnessing the female constructing; her floating "nesfc"—a curious cocoon shaped like a chemist's retort. This is quite. impervious to water,' air being admitted : through ,the neck fashioned to project above, the surface... {. ■■' "One operation 'characteristic •of this bulky beetle mayj at any rate, always be witnessed. This is the conveyance of air by : means of. the antennae to the lower part of Ihe body, where the open r ings of the breathing-channels are situated. Retained by bands of delicate down when the beetle is" submerged,'the globules of air present a beautiful silvery appearance, seen through the side of an aquarium—hence the , insect's : popular name. ■■: - ' ■'......■ ,<