That's FALSE!

  Sometimes we can be mistaken about things and the best thing to do is research the subject to find the facts.  I did just that today.  The Bayou Princess Cat has been ill and needed to go to the Pet Hospital.  That involves getting her in the carrier case which is quite the ordeal.  First the crate had to be retrieved from the shed attic and cleaned.  It was that cleaning that gave me the first inkling that I needed to do a bit of fact-finding.  In the carrier, there was a critter.  A rather unusual looking bug was staring back up at me.  Well, now!  Just who are you, bug?

  The bug was flipped out of the carrier and onto the floor.  It stared at me as if to say "Woman!  Why are you evicting me?  What have I ever done to you?"  The bug did not look particularly mean so I had intentions of letting it go outside.  While it sat still for a photograph, that critter could move when it wanted!  Now, instead of cleaning the cat crate, I was hopping around the kitchen trying to catch a critter!  While I had no intentions of killing the thing, I sure did not want it in the house!  After a good many fruitless attempts, I was finally able to capture said bug and toss it out the back door.  Then...then!  I had second thoughts!  What if that was another of those critters that eat garden plants??  Time to investigate yet another bug.

  Well, thankfully, this was not a garden pest.  This critter is called a False Bombardier Beetle.  (Yeah, I felt bad for the bug, too.  It cannot even get a "true" name...False Bombardier Beetle.  Crazy!)  It seems that this is one of those critters that use mimicry to keep from being eaten.  The (true) Bombardier Beetle shoots some pretty toxic substances at its predators (and humans) but our little buggy just pretends to be the other so it will not be eaten!  After finding out it was harmless, I read further to discover that this is actually one that is good for the garden!  It seems that our little "false" friend eats garden pests...especially caterpillars and larval stage bugs (like those squash bugs and cabbage worms!)  Well now, Little False One, you can live happily in the garden because you will definitely catch more caterpillars there than in the cat crate!