74 



SHARP E\TES 





-m 



have disclosed their dark secrets to me. Under one I 

 find a mouse-nest ; another, a snake or toad ; the next 

 one may disclose the nest of the solitary bee, or brown 

 wasp, or mud-dauber, or rare spider; and here I find a 

 pretty orange -spotted salamander, or wood -frog, or a 

 rare cocoon, to say nothing of all the host of squirming 

 things beetles, bugs, caterpillars, centipedes, iules, ar- 

 madillo-bugs, and ants which are among the certain 

 dwellers beneath almost any stone in the field. Sur- 

 prise after surprise came 



to me, until at last I 



. 



thought I had them all. 

 But one day I found 

 out my mistake. 



I had lifted a large 

 ^ ' flat rock and turned it 

 over, when I was im- 

 mediately saluted with 

 a distinct explosion, ac- 

 companied with a tiny 

 cloud of smoke among 

 the border grasses. I 

 quickly parted the 

 grass, and saw a small 

 blue beetle partly concealed beneath a dried 

 leaf. I sought to pick him up, when I was 

 treated to a repetition of the explosive report 

 and another cloud of smoke. Here was a cu- 

 rious freak indeed. A regular sharp-shooter, blue uni- 

 form and all. I captured my insect, and placed him 

 in a collecting-box. Shortly afterwards, upon lifting 

 the lid, the prisoner gave me another volley. But no 

 provocation could induce him to further waste his pow- 



