More Beetles 



touch of the mandibles, the Moth grows ex- 

 cited, beats the ground with her wide wings 

 and, with a sudden flap, hurls the aggressor 

 to a distance. Attack is impossible with 

 such game as this, for ever fluttering and 

 giving vigorous jerks. I cut off the big 

 Moth's wings. The assailants are soon on 

 the spot. There are seven of them tugging 

 and biting the cripple's belly. The down 

 flies off in tufts, the skin breaks and the seven 

 Beetles besetting the quarry dive into the en- 

 trails. It is Hke a pack of Wolves devouring 

 a horse. In a little while the Great Pea- 

 cock is eviscerated. 



The Carabus has no particular liking for 

 the Snail {Helix aspersa) so long as he re- 

 mains intact. I place two in the midst of 

 my Beetles, whom a couple of days' fasting 

 has rendered more than usually enterprising. 

 The molluscs are enscoced within their 

 shells; and these are stuck into the sand of 

 the cage mouth upwards. The Carabi come 

 up and stop for a moment, in turns; they 

 taste the slime and at once go away in dis- 

 gust, without insisting further. Slightly bit- 

 ten here and there, the Snail foams by driving 

 out the small reserve of air contained in his 

 pulmonary sac. This viscous froth consti- 

 294 



