These same insects will remain unperturbed on the rippling waves

TCD MS 10516 folio 71 verso

TCD MS 10516 folio 71 verso

[12th October 1916] by which they detect fine tremors on the surface of the water. This sense is remarkably acute, not only in appreciating the vibrations, but in discriminating between those which normally affect the water and those which are unusual and might, therefore, be objects of danger. For if a group of these insects be placed in a basin of water, they will be driven into the greatest consternation and will dash about in wild excitement when the water is thrown into a faint thrill by the very gentlest tap on the side of the basin; yet these same insects will remain unperturbed on the rippling waves of water driven inland by the breeze.
In their excitement and frenzy, when they turn and circle in every direction, it first seems as though all this bustle had no object but to