Your house is on fire
And your children will roam.”
Yes, it is one of the beetles, and every beetle is a wonder. Come, study this wonder.
The winged insects are divided into two great classes, Eaters and Drinkers. That is what their Latin names mean. Butterflies, house-flies, bees, and others, are drinkers. That is, they get their food by sucking it through a pipe or tube.
This tube is on the fore part of the head; it is really the upper lip grown long and round.
The other great class, the Eaters, eat their food with their mouths. Some suck or lick it; some use their jaws to crush and break their food.
Beetles belong to the class Eaters.
The beetles are covered with a hard, horny shell, like a case. In this they are like the old-time soldiers, who wore armor from head to foot.
Beetles belong to the great family of the ring-made creatures. Take a large, round beetle, with big jaws, feelers, and legs. Does he not look much like Mr. Crab, who is also ring-made?
In the pictures in this lesson you see Mr. Crab and Mr. Beetle. This is a large beetle that likes to live among the grasses and weeds near the seashore. When he and Mr. Crab meet on the sand they may think they are cousins.