COLEOPTERA. 119 



respite, and were we to reflect for a moment, we 

 should soon perceive how indispensable is their mur- 

 derous zeal to the order and well-being of surround- 

 ing nature. 



The active operations of these destroyers are not, 

 however, restricted to the land. Many species are 

 inhabitants of the water, and in that element have 

 their assigned tasks to perform. Neither are their 

 blood-tliirsty propensities only manifested during 

 their mature or winged state; from their earliest 

 birth they are tutored to the work of destruction, 

 and their very infancy is devoted to carnage and 

 slaughter. 



The Water Beetles (Dyttcus) * exhibit, in a very 

 striking maimer, the facility with which, by a slight modi- 

 fication in their form and arrangements, the limbs of an 

 insect become convertible to the most opposite uses. The 

 body of the Dyticus, oval in its shape, and slightly flat- 

 tened above and below, is con- 

 verted into a boat so smooth 

 and polished in every part, 

 that it glides through the water 

 with scarcely the slightest re- 

 sistance, while the two hinder 

 pairs of legs are changed into 

 oars of a most effective and 

 elegant construction. Thus 

 limbed, the Dyticus is fully 

 equijiped for its piratical mode 

 of life, and becomes an object 

 of no little interest in the 

 water over which it tvrannizes. 



c^, .. ^ - . - Fig. 79.— WATER-BEETLE. 



hometimes lurking beueatli 



the weeds, it may be seen creeping stealthily about in 

 search of some victim to seize by surprise ; sometimes 

 launching its skiff upon predatory excursions, the little 

 corsair sweeps along by means of its oars with wonderful 

 rapidity, coming every now and then to the surface of the 

 water to breathe, and diving again into the dej)ths below, 

 carrying with it a supply of air beneath its ^^'iug covers to 

 serve for respiration during its immersion. 

 * SvtikSs, dytico;=i, diving. 



