INSECT WEAPONS AND TOOLS 195 



of the fly we will look at another insect, one of 

 our British diving beetles (to be found in ponds 

 and small streams), which also has an apparatus 



Fig. 128. The foot of a fly 



for secreting a viscid fluid for the purpose of firmly 

 holding on to whatever the insect desires to cap- 

 ture. These beetles, the veritable sharks of our 

 pools and ditches, are extremely fierce, and attack 

 young fish, frogs, and anything small which lives ; 

 but, inasmuch as the male alone possesses these 



