TUMBLE-DUNG-BEETLE. 221 



sistence by the excellency of their noses, which direct 

 them in their flight to newly-fallen climg, on which they 

 immediately go to work, tempering it with a proper mixture 

 of earth. So intent are they always upon their employ- 

 ment, that, though handled or otherwise interrupted, they 

 are not to be deterred, but immediately, on being freed, 

 persist in their work without any apprehension of danger. 

 They are said to be so exceedingly strong and active as to 

 move about, with the greatest ease, things that are many 

 times their own weight. Dr. Brichell was supping one 

 evening in a planter's house of North Carolina, when two 

 of them were conveyed, without his knowledge, under the 

 candlestick. A few blows were struck on the table, and, to 

 his great surprise, the candlesticks -began to move about, 

 apparently without any agency ; and his surprise was not 

 much lessened when, on taking one of them up, he dis- 

 covered that it was only a chafer that moved." 



We have often found the necklace-beetle (Carahus monilis) 

 inhabiting a chamber dug out in the earth of a garden, just 

 sufficient to contain its body, and carefully smoothed and 

 polished. From the form of this little nest, it would seem 

 as if it were constructed, not by digging out the earth and 

 removing it, but chiefly by the insect pushing its body 

 forcibly against the walls. The beetles which we have 

 found nestling in this manner have been all males; and 

 therefore it cannot be intended for a breeding-cell; for 

 male insects are never, we believe, sufficiently generous to 

 their mates to assist them in such labours. The beetle in 

 question appears to be partial to celery trenches (J. E.) ; 

 probably from the loose earth of which they are composed 

 yielding, without much difficulty, to the pressure of its 

 body. 



