CHAFERS AND CLOCKS 223 



has the angular shape accentuated, while its tilted attitude 

 combined with its huge powers of leaping account for its 

 name of frog-hopper. It is a perfectly harmless little leaper, 

 though superfluous in a tea-cup or salad-bowl. 



Not many of our beetles have any active weapons of 

 offence, like the stings of wasps and bees, or the proboscis 

 of gnats. But some can exude an acrid liquid which is 

 presumably a defensive weapon against birds and other 

 predatory creatures, and the smallest species can cause 

 considerable inconvenience if they find their way into our 

 eye. The bombardier-beetle fires his charge in the shape 

 of vapour or spray, and with an audible report ; fortunately 

 he is too large to get trapped in the same way, or he would 

 be a startling capture. The devil's coach- horse squirts out 

 a malodorous greenish liquid which is probably unpleasant to 

 the taste of birds, while its erected tail and jaws give it a 

 very fierce and desperate air. More curious still for the 

 uninitiated is an encounter with a click-beetle. In this case 

 the change from the larva is complete ; the writhing wire- 

 worm has become a smallish but shapely beetle with a large 

 rounded thorax and tapering wing-cases. When disturbed 

 it will probably turn on its back and 'sham dead,' or avoid 

 any provocatory movement. A sudden click or spasm will 

 then throw it into the air; it will alight on its feet, and 

 equably pursue its business. On the under side of the 

 click-beetle there is a spike or peg on one side of the 

 central joint, and a socket on the other. The spike fits 

 into the socket when the beetle chooses, and when it forces 

 it out again the elastic action throws the beetle bodily into 

 the air. 



The glow-worm is a wingless female beetle, and her 

 power of signalling seems plainly correlated with her in- 

 ability to fly. Like Hero's lamp her light is a signal to her 



