ture's devices, and pulled it out, as any
angler would, tail foremost.

[Illustration: SCATTERED IN FLASHING, RAINBOW-TINTED DISARRAY.]

[Illustration: THE WATER-SPIDER LIVED BY HIMSELF IN A BUBBLE OF HIS OWN
MAKING.]

[Illustration: WHEN THE NEWT FIRST SAW HIM HE WAS DEVOURING A
CADDIS-WORM.]

It was not so much animus against the spider as a longing for the worm
that brought about the conflict. For the newt to snap at it was certainly
unpardonable. Had he anticipated the resultant display of force, he would
have hesitated. He had judged the spider solely by his size. When he felt
six legs firmly fixed about his face, when he felt the cunning leverage of
two more added to the pull, and a hideous pair of jaws drawing closer and
closer, he dropped the worm, a useless martyr in Nature's scheme, and bit
for freedom. The spider lost a foot, but left its mark, and the spider's
hairy foot was not worth eating.

[Illustration: SNATCHED AN INFANT DRAGON-FLY FROM THE JAWS OF THE
WATER-SCORPION.]

In his next robbery he was more judicious. He snatched an infant
dragon-fly from the jaws of the water-scorpion, devoured it with pleasure,
and then turned his attention to the water-scorpion himself. He found him
flat and tasteless. The water-boatman was more succulent, but, with only
one soft spot, difficult to do justice to. It was the same with all the
larger creatures. He was reduced to stickleback fry, small larvae, and
even juveniles of his own race. But nothing touched the tadpole, whose
unkind destiny it is to furnish half the water-world with food. Had it
not been for a diversion, he would have left the water in disgust.

[Illustration: THE WATER-BOATMAN WAS DIFFICULT TO DO JUSTICE TO.]

[Illustration: IT WAS A CASE OF MUTUAL ATTRACTION.]

* * * * *

Probably it was a case of mutual attraction. He swung his tail and crest
before her, comeliest and most debonair of all her suitors; and she, with
an engaging smile, swung a responsive tail at him. Crest she had none,
and, of course, her tail could not compare with his in beauty. The higher
we get in the natural orders, the more distinctly does decoration become
a feminine necessity. Her coat was a pale olive green; her front light
orange. Her charm was in herself.

[Illustration: THE GIDDY VORTEX OF NEWT SOCIETY.]

[Illustration: SOMETIMES THEY TRAVERSED THE MIDDLE DEEPS.]

For newts they made an excellent and well-matched pair. Of co