The Giant Scarites 



ground; the tramping gait of the murderer, 

 drunk with slaughter, slaking his thirst at 

 the springs of a horrible wound: these are 

 the main features of the combat. If en- 

 tomology had no other scenes to show us, I 

 should without the least regret turn my back 

 upon my insects. 



. Next day, offer the sated Beetle a Green 

 Grasshopper or a White-faced Decticus, 

 serious adversaries both, armed with power- 

 ful lower jaws. With these big-bellied 

 creatures the slaughter will begin anew, as 

 eagerly as on the day before. It will be re- 

 peated later with the Pine-chafer and the 

 Rhinoceros Beetle, accompanied by the usual 

 atrocious tactics of the Carabi. Even better 

 than these last does the Calosoma know the 

 weak point of the armoured Beetles, con- 

 cealed beneath the wing-cases. And this will 

 go on so long as we keep him provided with 

 victims, for this drinker of blood is never 

 satiated. 



Acrid exhalations, the products of a fiery 

 temperament, accompany this frenzy for 

 carnage. The Carabi elaborate caustic 

 humours; the Procrustes squirts a jet of 

 vinegar at any one who takes hold of him; 

 the Calosoma makes the fingers smell of 



357 



