1889 



GLEAKINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



49 



for people who ask many questions, to have 

 some postal cards printed, with their ad- 

 dresses on them. Even a busy man will sel- 

 dom refuse to take a pencil and scratch 

 some kind of an answer on a postal. — Your 

 suggestions in regard to fixing for honey- 

 exhibits at fairs are excellent, and I do not 

 know of anybody in my whole circle of 

 friends who is better prepared to make sug- 

 gestions than yourself. — Your concluding 

 remark is tiptop. It gives us a glimpse of 

 the good time coming, when there will be 

 no more quarreling about who ought to 

 have the premiums, and calling hard names. 

 —We should be very glad of some more sug- 

 gestions in regard to arranging for honey- 

 exhibits at fairs, with simple sketches to il- 

 lustrate the plans. 



THE TIGER BEETLES. 



lng for their prey, are drab, slate-colored, or purple, 

 and thus by their color alone are concealed from 

 their victims; as the weasel in his winter robes of 

 white, or the arctic fox, is hid by the snow on which 

 it treads. Others of these tiger beetles rest in the 

 grass, and are brilliant green, so no eye can detect 

 them till they dart away. This adaptation through 

 color is exceedingly interesting, and far too com- 

 mon to be mere accident. The walking - sticks 

 which I described recently are green when young, 

 and rest on leaves. As they become mature they 

 are gray or brown, and rest on twigs, and so in 

 both cases are protected by their color. Nor does 

 this law cease with the lower animals. The modest 

 retiring girl is as surely protected by her neat and 

 unpretentious apparel. 



A CURIOUS LAW IN MIMICRY. 



T AM receiving so many kind words regarding 

 ijP my articles in Gleanings on general entomol- 

 t|1 ogy, that I feel very much .pleased, and en- 

 ■*■ couraged to go on. As we often say, the time 

 seems ripe for just such articles. If I can do a 

 little to incite people to observe and study nature 

 in its wondrous insect forms, and especially to in- 

 terest children in such study, I shall feel that I 

 have done a good work. In this article T propose 

 to kill three birds with one stone: I shall describe 

 one of our most common and interesting families 

 of predaceous insects, the tiger beetles. I shall, by 

 means of excellent figures, make it plain just what 

 a beetle is; so that no reader need ever again con- 

 fuse them with bugs, which 1 have recently describ- 

 ed in Gleanings, with admirable illustrations. I 

 shall also present a picture of insect structure 

 which must awaken the inierest of all, and prove 

 that the bee, wonderful as it is, does not monopo- 

 lize structurally all the marvels of the insect-world. 

 The tiger beetles are 

 those sprightly wide- 

 awake forms resplen- 

 dent with hues of drab, 

 white, and green, that 

 shine with a metallic lus- 

 ter, which are so often 

 seen in the bright sun- 

 shine of midday, spring- 

 ing up before us as we 

 walk in the path or 

 meadow, pushing on to 

 alight again a few feet 

 in advance of us. The 

 one here shown (Fig. 1) 

 is our most common 

 one, Cecindela vulgaris. 

 It is a beautiful dark 

 beetle, almost slate col- 

 or, with a purple reflec- 

 tion, marked as shown, 

 by graceful curves of 

 tkjer beetle, magnified twice, rich cream. Below it 

 shines with green and purple. Indeed, in grace of 

 form, agility of movement, and beauty of colora- 

 tion, it is hard to find any thing in nature more in- 

 teresting than some of these tiger beetles. These 

 beetles illustrate very strikingly the curious law of 

 mimicry. Those that rest on the sand, eagerly wait- 



MOUTH PARTS OF TIGER BEETLE, MUCH MAGNI- 

 FIED (FIG. 2). 



The grub of the tiger beetle lives in a hole in the 

 ground. It has terrible jaws, and rests just at the 

 surface, ready to dodge down at the beck of dan- 

 ger, or to seize its prey as some unwary insect 

 strolls across its burrow. By very carefully ap- 

 proaching one of these holes we can get a good 

 view of these terrors among insects. The least 

 noise, and they drop down quite out of sight. If 

 we then put a straw in the hole they soon push it 

 out as they again crowd up to the mouth of their 

 dens. 



The beetles (Fig. 1) are also fierce and savage, and 

 so the name " tiger beetles." They are well fitted 

 to capture and tear in pieces even the largest in- 

 sects. Let us take a peep into their mouths and 

 see how well they are armed for their work. 



We count that man the biggest who does the 

 most and acts the best; hence to measure a man we 

 place our mental tape-line on his brain and heart. 

 These predaceous beetles are to conquer, kill, and 

 eat. Their mouth parts are their weapons; their 

 legs their armor. Like the ground-beetles, we see 

 they have an armor— their long legs (Fig. 1), which 

 deserves admiration. Their legs are also aided by 

 powerful wings. Let us now examine their weap- 

 ons. Though we may not look a gift horse in the 

 mouth, it is all right to gratify any such curiosity 

 in case of a dead tiger beetle. 



I do not know that tiger beetles ever kiss, or 

 speak guile; but I am sure that they have lips that 

 might do both were " they made that way." W« 



