20 
BEETLE. 
nearly black, and commonly marked with several 
small, round deep-black spots, of different sizes: 
the head and limbs are coal-black: from the upper 
part of the breast or thorax proceeds a horn or 
process of enormous length in proportion to the 
body: it is sharp at the tip, where it curves 
slightly downwards, and is marked beneath by two 
or three denticulations, and furnished throughout 
its whole length with a fine, short, velvet-like pile, 
of a brownish orange-colour: from the front of the 
head proceeds also a strong horn, about two thirds 
the length of the former, toothed on its upper sur- 
face but not furnished with any of the velvet-like 
pile which appears on the former. This species 
is a native of several parts of South America, 
where great numbers are said to be sometimes 
seen on the tree called the Mammaea^, rasp- 
ing off the rind of the slender branches by work- 
ing nimbly round them with the horns, till they 
cause the juice to flow, which they drink to 
intoxication, and thus fall senseless from the tree^ 
This however, as the learned Fabricius has well 
observed, seems not very probable j since the 
thoracic horn, being bearded on its lower surface, 
would undoubtedly be made bare by this opera- 
tion. This species, from the large size of all its 
parts, affords an admirable example of the cha- 
racters of the genus. It varies much in size, and 
it may even be doubted whether some of the 
smaller specimens have not been occasionally re- 
* Mammsea Americana. Lin. Mammee Tree. Broxvn Jam. 
