>»LUNGEll BEETLE, OR DYTISCUS. 121 
Mother, Yes ; and I was so fortunate 
as to catch one of them, which I have 
also drawn ? 
Lucy, The horrid looking fellow ! 
What a voracious look it has ! 
Mother. It is indeed a voracious crea- 
ture, for it preys even upon its own spe- 
cies ; and, from its murderous disposi- 
tion, the French call it the assassin 
worm. When the insect lays her eggs, 
which are of a large size, she spins round 
them a case, of a coarse, dusky coloured 
kind of silk, which preserves them from 
the attacks of the larvae, and of other hos- 
tile animals, 
Lucy, What is the name of this little 
tiger ? 
Mother, Dyiiscus is the name of the 
genus ; it is sometimes called the plunger, 
or diver, from the rapidity, with which it 
daits downwards in the water. The dy-- 
tiscus marginalis* is the particular spe- 
cies represented in the drawing. When it 
* So called from iu border, or margin. 
G 
