COMPENSATIONS OF NATURE. 



247 



gracefulness of exterior as well as thirst of blood, it displays a 

 richness and variety of colour boasted by few among its beetle 

 brethren of our northern clime. The least uncommon of our 

 seven or eight species is the Cicindela campestris* seen not 

 unfrequently from March to October, on heaths and sunny 

 banks. It is of a brilliant green, with usually five spots of 

 yellowish- white on each elytron ; the legs and breast of ruby- 

 red, which mingles also with the general hue. 



In the mature perfection of their rapacious strength and 

 destructive organs as animals of force, both the ant-lion and 

 the tiger-beetle cease to be animals of artifice. Devices and 

 the art of devising are only useful to the weak, the slow, the 

 awkward, or the immature. On these, therefore, do we find 

 them almost invariably bestowed. Such the kind compensa- 

 tion of " even-handed Nature 1" 



* See Vignette to " Insect Movements." 



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