THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



155 



freed from its filthy garment, it promenades npon the royal 

 plant in a magnificent carapace of vermilion. ^ 



The bombardiers are even more ingenious; they alarm 

 their enemies by means of real artillery. These Coleoptera, 

 when threatened, suddenly expel from their intestines a 

 whitish acid vapour, the explosion of which as it issues 

 produces a certain sound, a slight detonation, which carries 

 disorder among the aggressors. This explosion may even 

 be repeated a certain number of times. Hence, when one 

 of these insects is pursued by an enemy, it fires off' its artil- 





^^' 





6. CalosoToa {Calosoma inquisitor) pursuing a Bombardier [Brachinus crepitans), wlio is 



fighting in retreat. 



lery anew. The instinct of defence is so inherent in the 

 tribe of bombardiers, that at the sound of a cannon-shot 



^The excrements piled upon the back of the Lily Crioceris form an enormous 

 and heavy mass compared with the volume of the larva, which they entirely con- 

 ceal from view. We only see a species of little packages of moist defecations, which 

 seem to walk upon the leaves of the plant. The worm exposes theiu on its back 

 as fast as they are produced, and this is done by means of a special organ. The 

 anal orifice, instead of being quite at the end of the body, is placed above in such 

 a manner that each globule of excrement is disposed in its proper place, thus 

 contributing to the increase of the mass in proportion as the animal grows older. 



