THE LARVA OF THE COMMON TIGER BEETLE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2781, 10 May 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE LARVA OF THE COMMON TIGER BEETLE.

* Fob agility, strength, and ferocity, this larva is a veritable tiger among the insect world. Its body is long and narrow j when youug, but becomes broader as the larva approaches the pupa state. After each moult its colour is a soft creamy white, which in a few hours changes to a dead black, except in the creases and under parts, which remain lighter. When hungry, it is lithe, active, and quick-motioned, jerking, twisting, and throwing its tail up over its back when molested. Its strong jaws, too, are ever as ready to be used in its defence as in procuring food. The specimens observed by me seemed to prefer cut worms as an article of diet, the common garden worm being usually chosen. The tiger larva seizes the worm near its head as it lies in its underground retreat. Tho struggles of the doomed worm—often several times larger than its assailantthrow both combatants to the surface of the ground, where it continues in the vain effort to free itself until it can struggle no longer, the bloodthirsty little tiger burying its jaws deeper aud deeper into its victim, until sometimes its whole head and forelegs are hidden. Without loosening its hold it continues to drain the worm until it is gorged and the worm a mere shell, when it leaves what remains of its victim, and retires under the damp earth, where it remains inactive until ready to moult.—Scientific American.