34 INSECT LIFE IN POND AND STREAM 



its change is complete, and the Brown Water- 

 beetle creeps forth from its underground cell. 



Now for a few days our friend must be very 

 cautious. He must hide himself carefully 

 amongst the weeds and grasses. For when he 

 first creeps out from the bank he is very feeble ; 

 his coat is pale and quite soft, and if any 

 prowling creature finds him it may take its 

 revenge on the tyrannical beetle, who is much 

 too weak to defend himself. But after a 

 week has passed the beetle regains his strength, 

 his coat darkens, and gradually grows hard 

 and polished. So our beetle grows fearless, 

 and comes boldly forth from his hiding-place 

 ready once more to be the Tyrant of the 

 pool. 



The Brown Water-beetle may live for two 

 or three years if no accident befalls him. In 

 the winter he goes to sleep buried in the mud 

 at the bottom of the pool, but he wakes up 

 sometimes when the weather is mild and takes 

 a little exercise swimming round the pool. 



I should advise you to be careful how you 

 handle a Brown Water-beetle, for when it 

 finds itself captured it will often spurt out an 

 evil- smelling, milky fluid from behind its 

 head. The little. Whirligig beetle behaves in 



