SOLDIER BEETLES. 119 



thorax is not notched. Soft-bodied as are these 

 Beetles, they are among the most quarrelsome of 

 insects, and fight to the death on the least provoca- 

 tion. Indeed, it has long been the custom for boys 

 to catch these Beetles, and set them righting with 

 each other. There is not the least difficulty in this, 

 inasmuch as the Beetle is as ready for battle as a 

 game-cock, and, not content with fighting to the 

 death, eats its vanquished antagonist after killing it. 

 The popular idea among boys used to be, that a 

 soldier and a sailor must be pitted against each other ; 

 but this is not the case, for these Beetles will fight 

 and devour each other without the least reference to 

 species or even to sex, so that a soldier male and female 

 will fight as fiercely as if they were two males of 

 different species. 



They are not active insects, and though they can 

 fly well, and use their wings freely, are slow of pro- 

 gress, and can be taken by hand 

 while in the air. Like the per- 

 fect insect, the larva is carni- 

 vorous, feeding generally upon 

 earth-worms, but having no 

 scruple in devouring its own 

 kind. These larvae may be 

 found among grass and moss 

 during the earlier months of 

 the year, after the severe frosts 

 have ceased. They pass the Telephone fuscus. 

 whole of the winter in the larval state, and assume 

 the pupal condition about April or May, according 

 to the warmth of the season. Twenty-six species of 

 Telephorus are indigenous to England. 



