218 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



In the summer of 1826, we found on Putney Heath, in 

 Surrey, four of these beetles, hard at work in burj-ing a 

 dead crow, precisely in the manner described by M. Gle- 

 ditsch. (J. R.) 



Dung-Beetle. 



A still more common British insect, the Dorr, Clock, or 

 Dung-Beetle (^Geotrupes stercorarias), uses different materials 

 for burying along with its eggs. " It digs," to use the 

 'words of Kirby and Spence, "a deep cylindrical hole, and 

 carrying down a mass of the dung to the bottom, in it 

 deposits its eggs. And many of the species of the genus 

 Ateuchus roll together wet dung into round pellets, deposit 

 an egg in the midst of each, and when dry push them back- 

 wards, by their hind feet, to holes of the surprising depth 

 of three feet, which they have previously dug for their re- 

 ception, and which are often several yards distant. The 

 attention of these insects to their eggs is so remarkable, 

 that it was observed in the earliest ages, and is mentioned 

 by ancient writers, but with the addition of many fables, 

 as that they were all of the male sex ; that they became 

 young again every year ; and that they rolled the pellets 

 containing their eggs from sunrise to sunset every day, for 

 twenty-eight daj^s, without intermission."* 



" We frequently notice in our evening walks," says Mr. 

 Knapp, " the murmuring passage, and are often stricken by 

 the heedless flight of the great dorr-beetle (Geotnipes sterco- 

 rarius), clocks, as the boj^s call them. But this evening my 

 attention was called to them in particular, b}^ the constant 

 passing of such a number as to constitute something like a 

 little stream ; and I was led to search into the object of 

 their direct flight, as in general it is irregular and seem- 

 ingly inquisitive. I soon foimd that they dropped on some 

 recent nuisance : but what powers of perception must these 

 creatures possess, drawn from all distances and directions 

 by the very little fetor which, in such a calm evening, 

 could be difi'used around, and by what inconceivable means 



* Mouftt, 153. Kirby ;md Spence, ii. 350. 



