CH. IX.] COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 145 



of these insects together, all perfectly alive, while 

 the trunks and abdomens were nowhere to be 

 found ; sometimes only the abdomens were gone, 

 and the heads and trunks were left together. How 

 this circumstance took place he never could dis- 

 cover with any certainty. He supposes, however, 

 that it must have been in consequence of the se- 

 vere battles that sometimes take place among the 

 fiercest of the insect tribes ; but their mout'as not 

 seeming formed for animal food, he is at a loss to 

 guess what becomes of their abdomen. They do 

 not fly till most of the birds have retired to rest, 

 and indeed, if we were to suppose that any of them 

 devoured them, it would be difficult to say why the 

 heads or trunks should be rejected." 



The peculiar instinct which nature has ordained 

 the different insects for the preservation of the kind, 

 is well exemplified in the tribe of the Pellet-beetles, 

 natives of both continents. Though the casual ob- 

 server may be apt to raise associations rather unfa- 

 vourable to the cleanliness of these insects, yet 

 their indefatigable industry cannot but cause him to 

 be struck with the wisdom of the Creator. Between 

 the months of April and September, several of these 

 insects may be seen rolling globular pellets of moist 

 dung, which, according to Catesby, " they discover 

 by the excellence of their noses." Their industry 

 is surprising, as well as the mutual assistance which 

 they render to one another in rolling these globular 

 balls from the place where they made them to the 

 place of their interment, which is usually several 

 feet. This operation is performed by fastening their 

 four fore-legs firmly, raising their hind parts, and 

 forcing the ball with the hind-legs. Several of them 

 are sometimes engaged in trundling one ball, which, 

 on meeting with impediments from the unevenness 

 of the ground, they sometimes desert ; when, how- 

 ever, it is attempted by others with success, un- 

 less it happen to roll into some deep hollow, where 



Vol. II.— N 



