As you walk on under the interlacing branches of the close-growing trees, look about for evidences of the
Engraver Beetle
Pull the bark from a dead trunk or limb and you will probably find its trade-mark. Fig. 620 is one pattern, but there are various others, among them a spiral
Fig. 620 design cut as smoothly as though done with an engraver’s chisel.
These little workers in wood are but babies, being the larvæ of the engraver beetle, which, deposited as eggs under the bark of a dead tree, turn into worm-like creatures and eat their way along the surface of the sap-wood, tracing the cabalistic designs in their progress. When fully developed the beetle is still a wee thing, the largest being not over a quarter of an inch in length. Some are brown in color and some black.
Drop your eyes now and look for
Footprints
in the soft earth. You will frequently find them around ponds and the margin of brooks. They make a most interesting study, and will soon enable you to learn which of your forest neighbors has visited the spot before you.
A small, delicate impression, much like that of a dainty little hand, will show that