CASE WINGS. 45 



Come these long and narrow fellows, 

 That turn up their tails in anger 

 If you tease them, if you touch them ; 

 Their antennae like a necklace 

 Made of black pearls strung together, 

 With the biggest always outwards, 

 Almost always sliced off sideways. 

 They have stout and square wing cases, 

 And their body is uncovered. 

 So that they can turn their tails up. 

 Kirby called them all Rove Beetles ; 

 We will say Staphtltnina. 



There are other Water Beetles, 

 Beetles of all sorts and sizes, 

 Swimming, diving in the water. 

 Living in the water gardens. 

 Feeding on tlie leaves and flowers ; 

 Their antennae are not simple, 

 Sticking straight out from the forehead, 

 But are always knobbed, and hidden 

 In a hole beneath the skull cap : 

 These we call Hydrophiuna. 



Next these come gay Sexton Beetles, 

 Gay, but smelling, O ! so horrid ! 

 For they feed on putrid bodies ; 

 They have also knobbed antennas. 

 And the knob is hard and solid : 

 We will call all such Silphina, 



