THE BUGS. 



129 



it was the fashionable pick-me-up. Again, beetles pass 

 their childhood and youth as grubs, and appear as full- 

 blown beetles only when they come of age. A bug is 

 always the same animal ; it comes out of the egg a bug, 

 and when it grows to maturity it is only a bigger bug than 

 it was before. But these are scientific distinctions. To the 

 eye the most salient mark of a bug is a certain unmistak- 

 able three-corneredness, or triangularity, in its build. Its 

 head and neck are of one piece, triangular, resting like a 

 pyramid on its square shoulders ; its body is exactly the 

 shape of a three-cornered heraldic shield ; and, lastly, a bit 

 of the point of each upper wing is generally of a different 

 texture and colour from the rest, so that, when the wings 

 are closed, a conspicuous triangular patch appears on the 

 tail end of the offensive wretch. If the rest of it is flaring 

 red, the tail will be black or blue ; if the rest is black, the 

 tail may be golden yellow for bugs are great dandies. 

 Another and even more pronounced point of difference 

 between beetles and bugs is, that the last are highly aro- 

 matic ; and this may have something to do with the notion 

 of which they are so strongly possessed, that they consti- 

 tute an excellent flavouring for soup. Louis Figuier says 

 that some kinds of bugs have a bouquet resembling that 



