254 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 



by Huber into a nest of humble-bees, they were not af- 

 fected by it, like the liive-bees, but attacked it and drove 

 it out of their nest, and in one instance their sting's 

 proved fatal to it^.— A black ground-bcede devours the 

 eggs of the mole ciicket, or Gryllotalpa, To defend 

 them, the female places herself at the entrance of the 

 nest — vk^hich is a neatly smoothed and I'oundetl chamber 

 protected by labyrinths, ditches, and ramparts — and 

 whenever the beetle attempts to seize its prey, she catches 

 it and bites it asunder*^. 



I know nothing more astonishing than the wonderful 

 muscular strength of insects, which in pro})orti()n to 

 their size exceeds that of any other class of animals, and 

 is likewise to be reckoned amongst their means of de- 

 fence. Take one of the common chafers or dung-beetles 

 {Geotrupcs stercorarins, oi" Copris hinaris), into your 

 hand, and observe how he makes his way in spite of 

 your utmost pressure ; and read the accounts which au- 

 thors have left us of the very great weights that a flea 

 will easily move, as if a single man should draw a wag- 

 gon with forty or fifty hundred weight of hay : — but upon 

 this I shall touch hereafter, and therefore onl}^ hint at 

 it now. 



We are next to consider the modes of concealment to 

 which insects have recourse in order to escape the ob- 

 servation of their enemies. One is by covering them- 

 selves with various substances. Of this description is 

 a little water-beetle [Elophorus aquaticus), which is al- 

 ways found covered with mud, and so when feeding at 

 the bottom of a pool or pond can scarcely be distin- 



= Huber, Kouv. Ohs. ii. ."^Ol — 



'' Bingley, Animal Biogr. iii. 1st Ed. 247— White, Nat. Hist. ii. 82. 



