DEFIERS OF FROST. 207 



of their Lilliputian tenements, a variety of them having been 

 found to show equal contempt of flood, fire, famine, and steel, 

 those other bailiffs employed as often, in executions, by the 

 universal tyrant. 



To exemplify, next, the resistance of insect vitality against 

 the power of water. There is a certain beetle called the 

 Printer, 1 because, while feeding as a grub upon the under 

 bark of trees, it cuts out therein a variety of tracks resembling 

 letters ; and to such an extent was this species of type engrav- 

 ing once carried on, that a million and a half of pines are 

 said to have been sacrificed in the Hartz Forest 2 to supply 

 material for the work. It became, of course, desirable to 

 knock up a business carried on at such serious public cost; 

 but though these devils of printers were battered, together 

 with their type, within their books of bark though the trees 

 of their habitation were laid upon ice, and finally plunged in 

 water, they remained alive and unhurt. 



A somewhat similar but yet more wonderful instance of 

 obstinate vitality has worthily obtained a place amongst the 

 "Miracula Insectorum" of Linnasus. This is afforded by 

 certain tough-coated grubs, 3 with rat-like tails, which are 

 common inhabitants of drains and stagnant waters. These, 

 often becoming part and parcel of the turbid pulp used in 

 paper making, exposed afterwards to the action of wooden 

 mallets, and finally squeezed in strongest presses, are declared 

 frequently to have survived uninjured these annihilating 

 operations. 



In July or August these miraculous little animals assume 

 the chrysalis or pupa, still retaining their rattish tails, and, 

 early in September, cleave the air as black and yellow flies, 

 bearing some resemblance to drone bees. 4 We found last 

 summer, laid up in the decayed wood of an old willow, a large 



1 Bostrichus typographicus. 



8 In 1783, Kirby and Spence. 



3 Rat-tailed larvae (Eristalis tenax) Sewer Fly. Viguetto. 



