GREAT STRENGTH OF BEETLES. 73 



warily raised its head, looking round, and decamped 

 at full speed." 



The dor beetle, in common with many others, is 

 occasionally infested with minute parasitic insects, 

 termed acari. In my cabinet at present I have one 

 of the rapacious beetles {Carabidce) so covered with 

 these parasites, that the real colour of the beetle is no 

 where visible, not even on the legs. I was witness, 

 in 1831, on the Malone road, near this town, of an 

 ingenious device, which the dor beetle employed to 

 get rid of its tormentors. It ahghted on a heap of 

 hardened dirt, folded up its wings with its usual 

 rapidity, then forced its way twice through the mass, 

 and whUe the acari which were thus brushed off, 

 were running about in great apparent confusion, it 

 hurried from their ^dcinity and effected its escape. 



The great strength of these beetles in comparison 

 with their size is a pecuharity desen'ing of notice. 

 If one is taken in the hand, it wiU in a very short 

 time force its way out in despite of our utmost 

 pressure. Catesby, in his " Carohna," states that 

 " Doctor BricheU was supping one evening in a 

 planter's house of North Carolina, when two of 

 them were conveyed without his knowledge under 

 the candlesticks. A few blows were struck on the 

 table, when, to his great svirprise, the candlesticks 

 began to move about, apparently without any agency ; 



