486 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



wearied are they, that if several Burying-beetles are placed in 

 a vessel rilled with earth, and kept constantly supplied with 

 dead frogs, mice, &c., they will continue to bury them as long 

 as the supply is kept up. The object of this remarkable in- 

 stinct, so beneficial in its effects, is to furnish food for the young 

 who are hatched from eggs laid in the body of the animal dur- 

 ing its burial. In this way innumerable carcasses which would 

 pollute the atmosphere are removed, and made beneficial to 

 the soil. 



Family, Lucanidoe. (Lat. Lucanus, the Stag-beetle.) 



LUNCANUS. 



Family, Geotrupida?. (Gr. TV/, the Earth; rpuTuw, to bore.) 



GEOTRUPES. 



Family, Melolonthidce. (Gr. M^Ao/Lo^??, a Cockchaffer.) 



MELOLONTHA. 



Cervus (Lat a Stag), the Stag-beetle. 

 Stercorarms (Lat. Dung), the Dor-beetle. 

 Vulgaris (Lat. common), the Cockchaffer. 



The LAMELLICORN BEETLES are exceeedingly useful to man- 

 kind. Many of them act as scavengers and farmers, for they 



