Near the tail of the gun beetle is a little sack or bag full of fluid. When an enemy comes near him, Mr. Beetle, as he runs, throws off a drop of this fluid. The fluid flies out of the bag with a little bang. It sounds like the report of a tiny gun, and makes a kind of mist or blue smoke.
Three or four of these shots follow each other. This beetle is a small fellow. Big beetles like to chase him. When the wee gun goes off in the big beetle’s face, the big beetle backs away. Then he folds down his feelers and stands still. He acts very much as a dog does when he drops his tail between his legs and runs off!
These little gun-owning beetles live in damp places. Often a group of them will hide under a stone. If you lift up the stone, the poor beetles are in a great fright. They begin to fire off their guns like a squad of soldiers.
Now after talking about these little beetles, let us talk of great ones. I told you some beetles are very small, and some are very large. One beetle is so big that it is called the Giant. Another is called Goliath, from the huge giant whom King David slew. Others are called Atlas and Hercules, from tales told, in old times, of giants.
The very large beetles live in hot lands and are scarce. Some have the jaws large and curved like a crab’s claw. At first sight you might think them crabs. Some of these odd ones are shown in the picture.
The colors of these great beetles are often very splendid. Some of them have long horns on the front of their heads. Some of them have the hind legs so large, and of such a queer shape, that they do not look like beetles.
Some of these giant beetles have large teeth or knobs upon their jaws; they need them to crush and break their food. These teeth are like the knobs on Mr. Crab’s claw, which he uses for playing a tune. The beetle can use his knobs to make music. Beetles are fond of their own tunes. Often they make, for hours, a shrill hum, or buzz. They make this by rubbing their wing-cases.
There is a great beetle in Brazil called the Prince of Beetles. He gets this name from his size and beauty. Some of the princes have been sold for two hundred dollars each.
When you walk in the field, you might carry a bottle with a wide mouth. In this you can collect beetles to study. It may be very pleasant to study them when you go home. But have something in the bottle to kill them, for, shut up in a small space, and frightened, they are likely to pull each other to pieces.