254 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 



by Huber into a nest of humble-bees, they were not af- 

 fected by it, like the hive-bees, but attacked it and drove 

 it out of their nest, and in one instance their stings 

 proved fatal to it a . A black ground-beetle devours the 

 eggs of the mole cricket, or Gryllotalpa. To defend 

 them, the female places herself at the entrance of the 

 nest which is a neatly smoothed and rounded chamber 

 protected by labyrinths, ditches, and ramparts and 

 whenever the beetle attempts to seize its prey, she catches 

 it and bites it asunder 5 . 



I know nothing more astonishing than the wonderful 

 muscular strength of insects, which in proportion to 

 their size exceeds that of any other class of animals, and 

 is likewise to be reckoned amongst their means of de- 

 fence. Take one of the common chafers or dung-beetles 

 (Geotrupes stercorarius, or Copris lunaris\ into your 

 hand, and observe how he makes his way in spite of 

 your utmost pressure ; and read the accounts which au- 

 thors have left us of the very great weights that a flea 

 will easily move, as if a single man should draw a wag- 

 gon with forty or fifty hundred weight of hay : but upon 

 this I shall touch hereafter, and therefore only hint at 

 it now. 



We are next to consider the modes of concealment to 

 which insects have recourse in order to escape the ob- 

 servation of their enemies. One is by covering them- 

 selves with various substances. Of this description is 

 a little water-beetle (ElopJiorus aquaticus), which is al- 

 ways found covered with mud, and so when feeding at 

 the bottom of a pool or pond can scarcely be distin- 



a Huber, Nouv. Obs. ii. 301 



b Bingley, Animal Siogr. iii. 1st Ed. 24/ White, Nat. Hist. ii. 82. 



