FYK srv 



tor\- is not half as interesting as that of this poor 

 beetle that we tread upon in the grass. His 

 neighbor insect, the tiger- beetle, running hither 

 and thither with legs of wonderful speed, and 

 with the agility of a l1y on the w^ing, readily es- 

 capes our approach ; but this clumsy, helpless 

 blue beetle must needs plead for mercy by his 

 color alone, because he has no means to avert our 

 crushing step. A little girl who 

 met me on the country road re- 

 cently summed up the 

 characteristics of the blue 

 beetle pretty well. The 

 portrait was unmistak- 



able. " I've got a fun- 

 ny blue bug at home 

 in a box that I want 

 to show you," said she ; 

 " he's blue and awful 

 fat, and hasn't got any wings, but 

 wdien you touch him, he just turns 

 over on his back, and trembles his toes and leaks 

 big yellow drops out of his elbows." I have shown 

 her beetle — three views of him, in fact — about the 

 natural size, one of them on his back and " leak- 

 ing " at his elbows, for such is the infallible habit 

 of the insect when disturbed — a trick which has 

 also Qjiven him the name of the "oil beetle." He 

 is also known as the indigo beetle. 



