140 
COLEOPTERA. 
seen to kill and eat her husband. Of the Water Adephaga, 
the common Dyticus, or great Water-beetle, may be taken 
as an illustration; this insect, which is common in ponds 
and ditches, is also a fierce creature, both in its larval 
and perfect stages; the larva is of shrimp-like form, and 
is furnished with long curved mandibles, which are per¬ 
forated ; through these tubes the creature sucks the 
juices of its victims. The beetle is of large size, attain¬ 
ing a length of about an inch or more. The little 
whirl-gigs ( Gyrini ), which love to skate in circles on the 
surface of the water, belong to this tribe. The Rhy- 
pophaga or Dirt - eaters 
contain the large Water- 
beetle Hydrous piceus , 
which exceeds the Dyticus 
in size, the Burying-beetles, 
the Devil’s Coach-horses, 
etc. The Hydrous is not 
nearly so common as the 
Dyticus, and I do not 
remember to have ever 
found it in Shropshire ; in 
its perfect state it is a 
harmless insect, but as a 
larva it is fierce and vo¬ 
racious. The female beetle 
makes a penr-shaped flexi- 
IItdrous non. (natural size). We ^ q{ ^ j n 
slie encloses her eggs; the sic is attached to some water 
weed. The Burying-bcet'.es ( Necrophorus) are so called 
from their li t bit of burying small animals or pieces of 
carrion, which they do by digging the earth from under 
