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"Is it," he would ask them, "to repulse their enemies that certain caterpillars smear themselves with a corrosive product? But the larva of the Calosoma sycophanta, which feeds on the Processional caterpillar of the oak-tree, pays no heed to it, neither does the Dermestes, which feeds on the entrails of the Processional caterpillar of the pine-tree." And consider mimicry.
It will be repeated later with the Pine- chafer and the Rhinoceros Beetle, accompanied by the usual atrocious tactics of the Carabi. Even better than these last does the Calosoma know the weak point of the armoured Beetles, concealed beneath the wing-cases. And this will go on so long as we keep him provided with victims, for this drinker of blood is never satiated.
Acrid exhalations, the products of a fiery temperament, accompany this frenzy for carnage. The Carabi elaborate caustic humours; the Procrustes squirts a jet of vinegar at any one who takes hold of him; the Calosoma makes the fingers smell of mouldy drugs; certain Beetles, such as the Brachini, understand explosives and singe the aggressor's whiskers with a volley of musketry.
Soon there will be nothing left of the colossus but a pitiful empty carcase. Those who wish for a more hideous conflict must apply to Calosoma sycophanta, the handsomest of our flesh-eating insects, the most majestic in costume and size. This prince of Carabi is the butcher of the caterpillars. He is not to be overawed even by the sturdiest of rumps.
Mercurius, on account of two wing-shaped appendages, attached to the neck-corselet. Sixteen Carabicides were found belonging to the Calosoma, Pæcilus, Harpalus, Trechus, Dromius, and Peryphus. We were surprised at finding so few dung-beetles. We met with only two large ones, namely, the Megathopa villosa of Esch.
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