THE BLOOD BEETLE. 71 



III. THE BLOOD BEETLE. 



Timarcha Iccvif/ata. 

 Reprinted from Science Gossip for February, 1867. 



It was in the month of October, several years ago, 

 that I first became acquainted with the Blood Beetle. 

 It was crawling over some herbage at a very sluggish 

 pace, totally different to the hurrying race of a Sim- 

 Beetle across your path, or a Weevil over the leaves, 

 and I took it up to examine it. While turning it 

 over, I found my fingers were covered with what I at 

 first took to be blood ; recollecting, however, that 

 none of the other beetles with which I was acquainted 

 afforded the sanguineous fluid, I looked a little closer, 

 and discovered a rich scarlet bead, very translucent 

 in appearance, emerging from the creature's mouth. 

 Upon taking up several others they behaved in the 

 same way, and the habit appeared evidently a de- 

 fensive one, although the fluid was to me perfectly 

 harmless ; it might not be so, however, to the ordi- 

 nary enemies of the Beetle. This habit, together 

 with the firm ovate appearance, and the worse than 

 snail's pace, at which it crawled along, made the 

 insect very interesting to a neophyte in Natural 

 History, and not knowing its name, I called it pro 

 ton. the Blood-Beetle, which, perhaps, is slightly 

 more refined than its common English cognomen, 

 " The Bloody-nosed Beetle." As it was then rather 



