9 o 



COLEOPTERA. 



the unaccustomed roar of slaughtering cannon, as any one \vill allow who may inadver- 

 tently lay hold of one of these living batteries. It is quite true that neither powder 

 nor ball is needed by the insect cannoneer ; but th^re is the flash, the smoke, and the 

 report, and although 



be wanting, its place is most efficiently supplied by a burning drop, so caustic in its 

 nature as to be only comparable to nitric acid. 



Sternly and unremittingly is the work of destruction intrusted 

 to these carnivorous beetles carried on by night and by day, with- 

 out remorse or respite ; and were we to reflect for a moment, we 

 should soon perceive how indispensable is their murderous zeal to 

 the order and wellbeing of surrounding Nature. 



The active operations of these destroyers are not, however, re- 

 stricted to the land. Many species are inhabitants of the water, 

 and in that element have their assigned tasks to perform. Neither 

 are their bloodthirsty propensities only manifested during their 

 mature or winged state ; from their earliest birth they are tutored 

 to the work of destruction, and their very infancy is devoted to 

 carnage. 



The Water-Beetles (Dyticus}* . exhibit, in a very striking manner, the 

 facility with which, by a slight modification in their form and arrangements, 

 the limbs of an insect become convertible to the most opposite uses. The 

 body of the Dyticus, oval in its shape, and slightly 

 flattened above and below, is converted into a 

 boat, so smooth and polished in every part, that 

 it glides through the water with scarcely the 

 slightest resistance, while the two hinder pairs 

 of legs are changed into oars of a most effective 

 and elegant construction. Thus limbed, the Dy- 

 ticus is fully equipped for its piratical mode of 

 life, and becomes an object of no little interest 

 in the water over which it tyrannizes. Some- 

 times lurking beneath the weeds, it may be seen 

 creeping stealthily about in search of some victim 

 to seize by surprise ; sometimes launching its 

 skiff upon predatory excursions, the little corsair 

 sweeps along by means of its oars with wonder- 

 ful rapidity coming every now and then to the 

 surface of the water to breathe, and diving again 

 into the depths below carrying with it a supply 

 of air beneath its wing-covers to serve for respira- 

 tion during its immersion. 



The young of these water-beetles are as active and ferocious as the adult 

 insects, although widely differing in point of form. These larvae, not inappro- 

 priately distinguished by the name of " water-tigers," have some resemblance 

 to a Scolopendra, being composed of a succession of scaly rings, and they are, 



FIG. 79. WATER-BEETLE. 



js, dyticos, dirin-. 



