rves upward like the horn of a white rhinoceros.

Certain species of the elater beetles are familiar to every school-boy.
Elater signifies striking or bounding. Boys will know better what is
meant by an elater beetle if they are told that it is the same thing as
a skip-jack, or snapping-bug. If this beetle is laid on its back, its
legs are unable to reach to either side and gain a foot-hold, and it can
not roll over. It accordingly goes through a gymnastic movement. Curling
its legs closely to its body, it arches itself a little, and suddenly
springs into the air, landing on its feet, in which position it is again
master of itself.

The most remarkable among the elater beetles is the cuculio, or
fire-fly, of the tropics. It is a very common-looking dark brown beetle
in the daytime, the two beads, one on each side of its head, which at
night are so luminous and beautiful, being dull white. But, wait until
night comes, and then what countless pairs of tiny yellow-green lanterns
are flying over the fields, and creeping about among the foliage! Boys
and girls in Cuba make cages of stout reeds, and fill them with
cuculios. If the cage is hung in a dark room, the light from the
cuculios is strong enough to enable one to read print, if the book is
held near the cage. There is also a small place underneath the body from
which this singular beetle emits light, but the effect is not so
beautiful as that of the two beads on the head. If the cuculio is
disturbed by being shaken in its cage, or in any other way, the light it
throws out intensifies until it is fairly dazzling.

These beautiful beetles may easily be brought across the ocean in their
little cages, and if guarded from cold air, and fed plentifully with
sugar-cane, from which they suck the juice, or even with coarse brown
sugar moistened a little, they will live a long time.

[Illustration: BEETLES--AN EVENING FLIGHT.]

These varieties of beetles mentioned are only a small handful among
thousands, for there are more members of this great family than
naturalists have yet been able to count. There are beetles that fly by
night, and beetles that fly by day; some that live in the ground, others
in the water, and yet others on trees and among the leaves and flowers.
They are of all colors, and of varied appetites, some living solely on
insects, others on fruits and vegetables and leaves of different kinds.

[Begun in HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE No. 37, July 13.]

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