60 FIELD ZOOLOGY. 



dead mouse up in some out-of-the-way place, and you will 

 probably be able to attract some carrion beetles to the 

 carcass, and then you will be privileged to watch them 

 at their valuable work. In the dust of the farm road 

 you may be able to discover some of the tumble bugs 

 making away with the horse droppings to provision their 

 nests for their young. 



If you are willing to get clear down to the surface of 

 the beaten path across a vacant lot, or the sandy ground 

 at the edge of the garden path, you may discover the hole 

 made by some tiger beetle. In order to go through its 

 larval days, after the manner of all tiger beetles, it burrows 

 beneath the surface of the ground several inches, then 

 turns about in the hole it has made and waits till some 

 insect comes in its way; then it hauls the unlucky victim 

 down far into its burrow and feasts sumptuously. 

 When it is again hungry it goes up to the opening of the 

 burrow, and again lies in wait like some tiger in its lair. 

 The adult tiger beetles are slim, trim-bodied insects with 

 strong, though slender legs, big eyes, and a general air of 

 alertness; they are swift runners and catch their prey 

 other insects in open fight, simply by being quicker and 

 pouncing upon them. 



Some of the most interesting of the valuable beetles 

 cannot be found unless you go to a pond, or a river which 

 has pools and shallows. These beetles do their work in 

 water where vegetable or animal remains are continually 

 collecting and decaying. These things the beetles eat, 

 and thus serve to keep the quiet water bodies rid of this 

 foul matter. Otherwise such waters would be very 

 unhealthful to other creatures, as cattle, wild fowl, field 

 animals, or the human family. In going after these 

 beetles one must take a new pail, not an old rusty one, a 



