nd there's the
carpet-beetle, whose babies eat carpets unless your mother tempts them
with pieces of red flannel. And there's the searcher-beetle, with its
pretty green or violet wing covers, who is always on the search for
caterpillars. And there's the fire-fly, which is a soft-bodied beetle.

"And there's the very useful little beetle we call the ladybug, which is
not a bug, but a beetle. The ladybug is a great help to men who own
fruit orchards in the West. All over the country are to be found little
bugs called scale insects. These scales are very bad for trees, because
with their long, slender beaks the scales pump out the sap. Sometimes
they are so thick on the branch that they coat it entirely. You remember
that I told you that one of these troublesome scales is the
cottony-cushion scale, and that one day it was discovered that a
lady-beetle from Australia liked these scales very much. So a great many
of them were taken to California to eat the scales. The ladybugs eat
little green aphids, too, and often Mrs. Ladybug will lay her eggs
right in the midst of a family of aphids; and then the larvae are
surrounded by a hearty lunch when they come out of the egg. They eat the
aphids, the scales, and sometimes the eggs of other insects."

"Time, Ben," said Adam, "to have the flapjacks. I guess the storm must
be blowing over."

All drew up to the cabin table, and ate as heartily as if they were
eating dinner. It really looked as if the children had had no supper.

"In about half an hour," said Tom, "the storm will be over. Aren't there
any beetles that live in the water, Ben?"

"Oh yes; you can see them any day if you go by a brook. The
diving-beetles are skimming about, rowing themselves along with their
flattened hind legs. Every few minutes they come to the surface and lift
their wings to get a little air under them, then down they go into the
brook. They are very hungry beetles, eating other insects which they
find in the water. The boldest often try to take a bite out of a fish.
Just think of calling a baby beetle a water-tiger! Well, these babies
are as savage and ferocious to the little creatures living about them in
the water as a big tiger would be to us, if we should happen to meet
one.

"I like best the whirligig-beetles, they are such frisky fellows, always
having a good time, frolicking about with dozens of other little
whirligigs. They are bluish-black and shiny, and if you look carefully
you will s