EYE SPY 
tory is not half as interesting as that of this poor 
beetle that we tread upon in the grass. His 
neighbor insect, the tiger- beetle, running hither 
and thither with legs of wonderful speed, and 
with the agility of a fly on the wing, readily es- 
capes our approach ; but this clumsy, helpless 
blue beetle must needs plead for mercy by his 
color alone, because he has no means to avert our 
crushing step. A little girl who 
/ met me on the country road re- 
"' cently summed up the 
characteristics of the blue 
beetle pretty well. The 
portrait was unmistak- 
|, able. " I've got a fun- 
ny blue bug at home 
in a box that I want 
to show you," said she ; 
" he's blue and awful 
fat, and hasn't got any wings, but 
when you touch him, he just turns 
over on his back, and trembles his toes and leaks 
big yellow drops out of his elbows." I have shown 
her beetle three views of him, in fact about the 
natural size, one of them on his back and " leak- 
ing " at his elbows, for such is the infallible habit 
of the insect when disturbed a trick which has 
also given him the name of the " oil beetle." He 
is also known as the indigo beetle. 
