326 



GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



Fig. 96 Chinch Bug. 

 (Enlarged five times.) 



The true bugs, or ffemiptera, hibernate in similar 

 places; squash bugs, chinch bugs, "stink" bugs, and 

 others being easily found in num- 

 bers beneath loose bark or hidden 

 between the root leaves of mullein 

 and other plants. 



Nearly three hundred species of 

 Coleoptem, or beetles, occupy similar 

 positions. Almost any rotten log 

 or stump when broken open dis- 

 closes a half dozen or more "horn" 

 or "bess beetles," 

 in Winter Passalus cornutm L., 



great, shining, clumsy, black fellows 

 with a curved horn on the head. They are often 

 utilized as horses by country chil- 

 dren, the horn furnishing an invit- 

 ing projection to which may be 

 fastened, by a thread or cord, chips 

 and pieces of bark to be dragged 

 about by the strong and never lag- 

 ging beast of burden. When tired 

 of "playing horse" they can make 

 of the insect an instrument of mu- 

 Fig.97 Horn or Bess sic ; for, when held by the body, it 

 emits a creaking, hissing noise, pro- 

 duced by rubbing the abdomen up and down against 

 the inside of the hard, horny wing covers. This 

 beetle passes its entire life in cavities in the rotten 

 wood on which it feeds, and when it wishes a larger 

 or more commodious home it has only to eat the 

 more. 



