VERY INTERESTING TROPICAL INSECTS 
15 
butterfly or the peacock butterfly? The first named is truly clothed in 
regal robes, while the second rivals the peacock in arrangement and 
beauty of plumage. Or, w“ould you like to see some curious creatures 
that hold our interest because of their odd traits and characteristics? 
All right, let us seek the latter. 
First, I am going to introduce you to our neighbor (I do not say 
“friend,” for this creature is quite suspicious and equally as pugna¬ 
cious), the bombardier. Brother Bombardier is a highly colored beetle 
with metallic-green and pitch-black markings. It is because of his 
color that he is quite conspicuous, and yet why should he stew and fret 
about being discovered! He can ably defend himself without anybody’s 
assistance. How? Very much as the cuttlefish eludes enemies in the 
depths of the sea. He shoots a fluid that confuses his pursuer, and, 
while the latter is gathering his wits together, Brother* Bombardier 
escapes. This is what gives this beetle his name of “bombardier.” 
And not only does the fluid go into the enemy’s face, but as soon as it 
comes into contact with the air it volatilizes, exploding with a minia¬ 
ture report that in itself would startle whatever might be after the 
beetle. Another curious fact about this beetle is that, while it is fast 
of flight, it seldom leaves the ground, depending upon its power of 
running to capture its prey or elude an enemy. 
We might call the pugilist of “beetledom” the stag-, hercules-, 
rhinocerous-, and wplf-beetles. All of these are very strong and hardy 
fighters. The wolf-beetle is perhaps one of the strongest, although 
the hercules would give him a beating if he had to do so. But the wolf 
is a cannibal, and his burrowi is littered with legs, wings, and other re¬ 
jected parts of creatures he has conquered in battle. The stag-beetle 
has toothed jaws extending beyond the head, looking very much like 
the horns of a stag. So much does another beetle resemble a quadru¬ 
ped that it is called rhinoceros-beetle. 
But one of the most curious is the carabus. This beetle is not the 
fighter that the others are, but he is wise enough to keep out of quar¬ 
rels until the proper time comes. He considers that the real favorable 
time (to him) is when a couple of beetles have locked jaws. Once hav¬ 
ing done this, none of the above mentioned will let go, and so carabus 
steps right in and begins to make a meal out of them. He knows that he 
is safe, for they can not fight except with their powerful jaws, and 
neither will let go for fear of giving his opponent undue advantage. 
