682 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photo by W. P. Dando, f.Z.S., 

 Regent's Park. 



GROUND-BEETLE. 



The beetles of this group are generally 

 of a black or bronzy colour, some species 

 being beautifully metallic. 



wing-cases. It pours out an evil-smelling liquid from the end 

 of the body when handled. 



The curious red-and-blue BOMBARDIER, which, when interfered 

 with, discharges a little puff of bluish-white smoke from the tip of 

 the abdomen, accompanied by a distinct report, is also a member 

 of this group. It is found under stones on river-banks, and also 

 on the coast. 



Next come the predaceous beetles of the water, of which we 

 have a well-known British representative in the GREAT BROWN 

 WATER-BEETLE. This insect, which is plentiful in weedy ponds, 

 swims by means of its hind limbs, which are modified into broad, 

 flat oars, with a mechanical arrangement for "feathering" as they 

 are drawn back after making each stroke. It flies by night, often 

 travelling for a long distance from one pond to another, and 

 regains the water by suddenly folding its wings and allowing 



itself to fall from a height. In 

 the female insect the wing-cases are 

 grooved for about two-thirds of their 

 length. 



This beetle must not be con- 

 founded with the still larger BLACK 



WATER-BEETLE, which belongs to another group. This fine insect, 

 which is not predaceous in the perfect state, is locally plentiful 

 in ditches, and is in great request as an inmate of the fresh- 

 water aquarium. The hind limbs are not modified for swimming 

 purposes. 



Next in order come the COCKTAILS, so called from their 

 curious habit of turning up the end of the body when alarmed. 

 To this group belong most of the tiny " flies " which cause such 

 severe pain when they find their way into the eyes. Some 

 species, however, attain to a considerable size, the well-known 

 DEVIL'S COACH-HORSE being fully an inch in length. The great 

 majority are scavengers, ' being 

 found in carrion, manure, and de- 

 caying vegetable matter. A few, 

 however, are lodgers in the nests 

 of ants, by whom they appear to 

 be regarded as pets and treated with the utmost kindness. 



The next group includes the curious insects popularly 

 known as BURYING-BEETLES, which inter the bodies of small animals 

 in the ground, scooping out the earth from underneath them by 

 means of their broad and powerful heads, and shovelling it back 

 when the carcases have sunk to a sufficient depth. The eggs 

 are laid in the carrion thus buried. Most of these beetles are 

 distinguished by broad blotches or bars of orange on the wing- 

 cases, but one common British species is entirely black. 



Allied to these, and very similar in habits, are the FLAT 

 BURYING-BEETLES, of which there are about a dozen British species. 



. Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., 



In the best known of these the thorax is dull red in colour, and Regent's Park. 



the black wing-cases are curiously wrinkled. Another species is BLACK WATER-BEETLE. 



reddish yellow in Colour, With tWO round black Spots On each A shining black species, longer, narrower, 



. and more convex than the Great Browa 



wing-case. It is found on oak-trees, and feeds upon caterpillars, water-beetle. 



Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., 

 Regent's Park. 



GREAT BROWN 

 WATER-BEETLE (MALE). 

 A large olive-brown species, about an 

 inch in length, and nearly half as broad. 

 The wing-cases of the female are grooved. 



