IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 211 
But it is not entirely bad. In the first place it is very brave ; 
it is not afraid of anything, even of a man. Mr. Wood tells a story 
about meeting one in his walks. He threatened it with a stick, but 
the Beetle flew at the stick with his mouth open, as though he was 
going to annihilate the whole thing — stick, man and all. Mr. W. 
struck the stick down hard very near him, but he was not a bit 
frightened ; he fought every inch of the way. 
He is a very lively fellow; he flies and runs with equal speed, 
and one of his scientific names means swift-footed. 
The eggs in this family are very large for the size of the Beetle, 
being a tenth of an inch long. When they are hatched out, the 
young Coach Horses are just as ugly as their parents, but have no 
wings. Their only business in life seems to be to eat. They are 
very fierce, and w T ill kill and eat every creature that is not too large 
for them, even their own kind. 
They do not need to set a trap, or dig a pit, like the little 
Hunter I have just told you about; they are swift enough to catch 
anything, and they have a quick way to kill their prey, seizing them 
in the neck, and biting them, and never letting go their hold till the 
victim is dead, and the juices sucked out. 
When the time comes, that comes to all insects, when they 
can no longer eat, and only want to get out of sight in some safe 
place, this little fellow digs a hole in the ground and buries himself 
there. 
After two or three weeks, he crawls out, a perfect Devil's 
Coach Horse, like its parents, and is ready at once to start on its 
new life. 
Disagreeable as the creature is in appearance, it is really useful 
to the gardener, for it cares not for vegetable food, but kills and 
eats hundreds of the insects which do eat up the fruit and crops of 
the garden. 
Here is another Beetle that I want to tell you about. 
Fine interesting creature is a Stylops ; did you ever hear of it ? 
I don't think you ever did, for the whole creature, big as he looks 
in the picture, is really not much larger than a small letter i on 
this page, and the branch which it is crawling upon, is one of the 
hairs of a bee. You have to thank the microscope for making it 
large enough for you to see. 
The whole family live on the body of an unfortunate bee. The 
mother of the family — that bottle-shaped object on the left of the 
