it came to a halt, and took up its onward march only after
several seconds had elapsed. Again and again I performed this experiment
with like results; finally, the little traveller became thoroughly
chilled, and, after a fruitless endeavor to again penetrate the skin,
ceased all motion and died.

Many of the coleoptera are good letisimulants. The common tumble-bug
(_Canthon laevis_), which may be seen any day in August rolling its ball
of manure, in which are its eggs, to some suitable place of interment,
is a remarkable death-feigner. Touch it, and at once it falls over,
apparently dead. It draws in its legs, which become stiff and rigid;
even its antennae are motionless. You may pick it up and examine it
closely; it will not give the slightest sign of life. Place it on the
ground and retire a little from it, and, in a few moments, you will see
it erect one of its antennae and then the other. Its ears are in its
antennae, and it is listening for dangerous sounds. Move your foot or
stamp upon the ground, and back they go, and the beetle again becomes
seemingly moribund.

This you may do several times, but the little animal, soon discovering
that the sounds you make are not indicative of peril to it, scrambles
to its feet and resumes the rolling of its precious ball. The habit of
making use of this subterfuge is undoubtedly instinctive in this
creature; but the line of action governing the use of the stratagem is
evidently suggested by intelligent, correlated ideation.

Some animals feign death after exhausting all other means of defence.
The stink-bug (_pentatomid_) or bombardier bug (not the "bombardier
beetle") has, on the sides of its abdomen near its middle coxae ("hip
bone"), certain bladder-like glands which secrete an acrid,
foul-smelling fluid;[112] it has the power of ejecting this fluid at
will.

[112] Comstock, _The Study of Insects_, p. 145.

When approached by an enemy, the stink-bug presents one side to the foe,
crouching down on the opposite side, thus elevating its battery, and
waits until its molester is within range; it then fires its broadside at
the enemy. If the foe is not vanquished (as it commonly is), but still
continues the attack, the bombardier turns and fires another broadside
from the opposite side. If this second discharge does not prove
efficacious (and I have rarely known it to fail), the little insect
topples over, draws in its legs, and pretends to be dead.

Many a man has acte