148 NATURE STUDY. 



the Alps ; the agony of a beetle, which was ten days dy- 

 ing, veiled Mont Blanc from our gaze ; in the anatomy of 

 an ant we forgot the Jungfrau." 



But the beetle was actually more than ten days dying. 

 The quick effect upon insects of cyanide of potassium was 

 not then known, and in the journal which Madame Miche- 

 let kept of this same sojourn in Switzerland is the follow- 

 ing account of the remarkable vitality of a stag beetle. It 

 is interesting, both for the hint it contains of the cruel 

 practice once in vogue of pinning insects alive, and as illus- 

 trating the crude methods to which even the tender-hearted 

 were obliged to resort in the earlier days of entomological 

 investigation : 



"But soon I discov^ered that I was not utterly alone. 

 Bees, or drones, which had also risen early, were already 

 at work, seeking in the cups of the flowers the honey dis- 

 tilled beneath the dew, penetrating into the depths of the 

 campanulas, or skilfully gliding into the mysterious corol- 

 la of the charming Venus's Slipper. Brilliant cicindelas 

 opened the hunt after the gnats, while more unwieldy 

 tribes sought their livelihood at the bottom of the herbage. 



"On this day, then, the 20th of July, allowing my 

 glance to fall mechanically at my feet, and withdrawing 

 my eyes from the too luminous picture, I saw with aston- 

 ishrnent a scene which vividly contrasted with this attract- 

 ive and holy spot — an atrocious warlike struggle. The 

 insect-giant which we call the stag-beetle, one of the 

 largest of European species, a black shining mass, whose 

 horns bristle with superb crescent-wise pincers, had seized 

 upon a beetle of far inferior size. Nevertheless, the two 

 enemies, being equally provided with admirable defensive 

 arms, after the fashion of the corselets, armlets, and cuis" 

 ses of our ancient knights, the struggle was long and fierce. 

 Both belonged to the murderous race which prey on little 

 insects — were powerful lords in the habit of devouring 



