INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 257 



are ground beetles and may be found by turning up flat 

 stones in pastures. The head and legs are reddish yellow, 

 and the wing covers are commonly blue, sometimes black. 

 If any of the children succeed in finding one, it should be 

 made at home under a stone in a vivarium, well fed with 

 insects, and experimented with as occasion offers. It 

 would be interesting to know how a toad might fare with 

 a bombardier. 



There are many other common carabids, or ground 

 beetles, whose strong jaws mark them as carnivorous spe- 

 cies. It will be well not to try to keep any such beetle 

 with other insects that we may wish to rear or preserve. 

 ^ Dragon Flies. — These may be classed among beneficial 

 insects as long as there are mosquitoes, gnats, and flies to 

 be destroyed. They are the swallows among insects, cap- 

 turing and eating a great variety, especially of the smaller 

 insects, on the wing. But long after flies and mosquitoes 

 cease from troubling we shall need dragon flies, that we 

 may enjoy their beauty and that each year we may watch a 

 few crawl out of the water and change to fairies. The eggs 

 are laid in or on the water, often on the stems of water 

 plants. Sometimes the female crawls down a stem and 

 under the surface to lay her eggs. The larvae are active, 

 predaceous creatures, feeding on aquatic insects, young 

 fishes, and tadpoles, from the time of hatching until they 

 leave the water to transform. In the last stage, before 

 emerging from the water, they are known as " nymphs " ; 

 and this takes the place of the quiescent pupa, or chrysalis 

 stage, of other insects. 



Damsel Flies. — In habits -and appearance damsel flies 

 resemble dragon flies, but they are smaller, and the wings, 



