48 INSECTS ABROAD. 



Duncan in the "Naturalist's Library"), "and even in the figure 

 of their bodies, they bear a greater resemblance to the Beetle 

 named Broscus ccjyJialotes, found abundantly on the sandy shores 

 of the sea in many places both in England and Scotland, than 

 to any other British insect. They partake of the form which 

 prevails among Beetles accustomed to burrow in the soil, and 

 which is best exemplified in the Scarites and Clivina?, or Mole 

 Beetles as they are sometimes called, which live chieHy beneath 

 the "round. 



Fig. 16.— Autliia thoracica. 

 (Shining black ; yellow down on thorax.) 



" Tlie head is very thick and strong, fitted to make its w^ay 

 through a resisting medium, and the thorax is attached to the 

 abdomen by a narrow neck-like portion, which admits of the 

 anterior part of the body being easily turned in a lateral direc- 

 tion, and therefore answers the same purpose as the flexibility 

 of the vertebrate column in moles and other burrowing quad- 

 rupeds. The hinder part of the body is considerably wider than 

 the anterior, a circumstance never observed in burrowing Beetles, 

 properly so called, as it would materially impede the insect's 

 progress through its cylindrical excavations." 



It is one of the most variable of insects, and has consequently 

 been described under several names. Some specimens are very 

 much smaller than others, while the colour and arrangement of 

 the down-clad patching differ so much that no one who did not 

 thoroughly know the insect would be likely to imagine that 



