118 INSECTS ABROAD, 



used for digging purposes. It is rather remarkable that none of 

 the specimens in tire British Museum have any tarsi, and in all 

 these Beetles the tarsus of the fore-legs is very small, and can 

 be tucked away so as to be protected while the limb is employed 

 in excavating the earth. Probably, in such operations the tarsus 

 was broken off, but, as it is of such minute dimensions, the 

 Beetles get on very well without it. 



The head and thorax are bhick, the former being roughly 

 granulated, and the latter very finely punctured, so as to give it 

 a sort of satiny surface. The elytra are rather curious. They 

 are very flat, and are roughly wrinkled. At first sight the 

 wrinkles appear to be without any order, and to be scattered 

 over the wing-cases as vaguely as wheat-blades appear to be on a 

 field, from almost every point of view. But just as the wheat 

 arranges itself in regular lines when viewed from the ends ot 

 tlie furrows, so do these wrinkles show themselves to be arranged 

 in longitudinal rows when the eye is directed parallel to the 

 central line of the body. The colour of the elytra is dark 

 chocolate, and on each end they are flattened and turned up like 

 the rim of a hat. If the insect be viewed edgewise, the elytra 

 will be seen to be also turned downwards, so as to cover a con- 

 siderable portion of the side. 



There are several species known to entomologists. They are 

 mostly black and dull in colour, but one or two depart from the 

 general rule, and are really brilliant insects. By far the prettiest 

 is Deltochihtm Icarus, which is of a bright metallic cojiper-red, 

 sliglitly glossed with bronze, having the whole surface very finely 

 punctured, and the elytra marked w^ith bold stria3, each covered 

 with fine punctures. All these Beetles inhabit South America. 



Next come the Coprides, of which we have some six or seven 

 species in England, the best-known of which is Copris lunaris, 

 the male of which has a long and upright horn on the head. 

 The Coprides dig deep burrows, mostly oblique, and not perpen- 

 dicular like those of our Dor Beetles. They have the power 

 of making a creaking sort of noise, which is said to be produced 

 by the friction of the tips of the elytra against the abdomen. 

 This sound is conspicuous in the British species which has just 

 been mentioned. 



The finest foreign example of these Beetles is undoubtedly 





