72 INSECTS. 



The larva of this beetle is one of the fiercest hunters 

 of the water. 



The Hydrophilus has a habit, singular among beetles, 

 of spinning a flexible silken sac, in which to enclose 

 Fi<r 34 her eggs (fig. 34). This is described 

 as resembling a turnip upside down ; a 

 curved, pointed horn, about one inch 

 long, rising from the upper side of the 

 sac, which, being compressed on two 

 sides, measures about three-quarters of 

 an inch at its widest, and half an inch at 

 its narrowest diameter. 

 Nest of eggs of Hy- There are several other families of 

 drous piceus. non-predaceous beetles both aquatic and 

 semi-aquatic. Some live in the moss and grass by the 

 side of pools and streams, at times freely entering the 

 water and running on the bottom. Others live in or 

 on the muddy bottom ; others are found on the stems 

 and leaves and among the roots of water plants. In 

 cases like these the legs are usually adapted for crawling 

 or wading rather than for swimming. 



The water-beetles, however, of most marked aquatic 

 form and habit, by no means confine themselves to their 

 own element ; those of the carnivorous section especially 

 frequently leave the water at night, but are seldom found 

 on the wing in the daytime. 



Of the land beetles with clubbed horns, and which feed 

 chiefly on dead matter of various kinds, the sextons 

 or burying beetles are perhaps the most remarkable, 

 and are certainly amongst the most disagreeable, owing 

 to a disgusting scent which they acquire from their food. 

 They form the second Subdi vision, Necropliaga(NtK.poQ, 

 necros, dead ; (payw, phago, eating), and are an invaluable 



