Three Drowned Trichiotinus

The rain falls. As the rain falls, the rain gauge fills with water. As the rain gauge fills with water, the various bugs trap themselves in the rain gauge. As the various bugs drown, I feel sorry for them. But generally not sorry enough to actually go out in the rain and rescue them. However, I do observe the rain gauge through a binocular. That way I may espy when some interesting bug or two is drowning itself.

Yesterday, there were some black objects in the rain gauge along with the water. I was too far away to espy exactly the nature of those particular objects even with the binocular. Eventually, the showers let up. Out I went.

Sure as snuff, three little scarab beetles were trapped in the gauge. I poured them out into my hand. Yes. Then I took those miserable little drowned beetles into the house. I took them to the lab. I spread them out on a plastic bag. There some of them are.

Later, I came back to check on the beetles. One of them was moving. That’s the one not included in this picture. I took that one outside.

Later, I came back again to check on the beetles. The one in the foreground was moving. So the majority of these beetles were not drowned after all. I took these twain outside.

Sadly, the one on its back never moved. Yet beetles are tough. So maybe it moved later