76 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



summer the pupal stage only lasts about a 

 fortnight or a little longer, but those larvae 

 which bury themselves in the autumn probably 

 only pupate with the approach of spring. 



The larva of the Dytiscus Beetle is a very 

 fierce and courageous creature, attacking min- 

 nows, sticklebacks, tadpoles, newts, the larvae 

 of other aquatic insects, and, in fact, nearly every 

 other inhabitant of the pond, including its own 

 relations, so that it is frequently called the 

 11 water-devil." It has a large flat head, armed 

 with a most formidable pair of pointed sickle- 

 shaped jaws, which are hollow and have minute 

 openings at the points, through which the juices 

 of the prey are sucked. Its six legs are well 

 developed and arranged in three pairs on the 

 lower surface of the thorax, and the last or anal 

 segment of the body is armed with a pair of 

 curious gill structures, through which the insect 

 takes in a supply of air, when it rises to the 

 surface of the water to breathe. As the larva 

 increases in size, it casts its skin from time to 

 time, until it attains a length of two and half to 

 three inches ; it then quits the water, and having 

 excavated a cell in the muddy bank, passes into 

 the quiet pupa-stage of its life. 



The fully developed Beetle is every bit as 

 voracious and destructive as the larva, and is, 

 indeed, a perfect terror to all the softer bodied 

 inhabitants of the pond. With its massive 

 body, and hard wing-cases protecting the large 

 membranous wings, the Dytiscus Beetle is a 

 veritable knight in armour, and like the knights 

 of old is always ready to do battle. The wing- 



