4 INSECT LIFE i 



more than one gives out a strong scent of musk, 

 and its ventral parts gleam like polished metal. 

 Geotrupes hypocrita has the under part of its body 

 bright with metallic lights of copper and gold, and 

 G. stercorarius with amethystine violet. But the 

 usual colour is black. It is in tropical regions that 

 we find dung beetles in gorgeous array — absolutely 

 living jewels. Under camel droppings in Upper 

 Egypt is found a beetle rivalling the dazzling green 

 of an emerald ; Guiana, Brazil, Senegal, can show 

 Copridae of a metallic red, rich as the red of copper, 

 bright as that of a ruby. If such a jewelled race be 

 wanting to our country, still its dung beetles are not 

 less remarkable for their habits. 



What eagerness is displayed around a dropping ! 

 Never did adventurers from the four corners of the 

 world show such eagerness in working a Californian 

 claim ! Before the sun grows too hot there they 

 are by hundreds, large and small, pell-mell, of 

 every kind and form and shape, hastening to secure 

 a slice of the cake ! Some work in the open air 

 and rake the surface, some open galleries in the 

 thickest part, seeking choice morsels, others toil in 

 the under part and bury their treasure as soon as 

 possible in the adjacent ground, and the smallest 

 crumble some scrap fallen from the excavations of 

 their strong fellow -workers. Some again — new- 

 comers, and doubtless the hungriest — eat then and 

 there, but the aim of the greater number is to lay 

 up a store which will allow them to pass long 

 days of plenty down in some sure retreat. A 

 fresh dropping is not to be found just when wanted 

 in a plain where no thyme grows ; such a gift is 



