18 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



small drift-wood. The accumulation was literally swarming with insects 

 which had evidently fallen, or been blown, into the river, and had sought 

 safety upon the drift-wood floating with them. Having floated into a haven 

 of refuge, they were crawling upon the most elevated places and drying 

 themselves in the sun preparatory to flight. In many instances, however, 

 they were doomed to disappointment, as sudden changes in the current 

 and eddy would every now and then violently agitate the accumulation, 

 wash off many of the insects, and send portions of the drift-wood again 

 into the current to be carried further down. Beetles were most numerous, 

 but there were also large numbers of Diptera and some Hymenoptera and 

 Hemiptera. The Coleoptera were principally comprised of Chrysomelidee, 

 Coccinellidae, Histeridse, Nitidulidae, Lampyridse and Staphylinid^, and 

 were generally the smaller and commoner species. 



Ottawa, 1 8th Feb'y, 1884. W. Hague Harrington. 



THE DUNG PELLET MAKERS. 



The term Scarabaeus, as applied by the ancients to the Sacred Beetle 

 of Egypt, and afterwards by Linnaeus as comprehending the great division 

 of the Lamellicornes of Latreille, is derived from Khepra, an African 

 word, which means cipher or circle, and has reference to the orbicular 

 shape of the pellet of dung that contains the deposit of ova. Khepr is 

 no doubt the root word, and is analagous with the Greek word Kapobos, 

 the Latin word Scarabaeus, and the English word Crab. Any ordinary 

 scholar can follow the slight linguistic change that produces one from the 

 other. The Scarabaeus is imaged amongst the hieroglyphics of the 

 Egyptians, and was regarded by those ancient people as a symbol of the 

 world and the sun. It is not improbable that the term Scarabaeus is 

 associated in the minds of the many with the idea of a Crab, not only 

 because the Sacred Beetle of Egypt is represented under that form, as a 

 sign in the zodiac, but also from the peculiar conformation of the clypeus 

 and thorax of the beetle to the shell-case of that Crustacean. Scarabaeus 

 evidently means a ball. It seems to the writer that we apply this term to 

 cover a larger class of beetles than the signification of the word will admit. 



