BEETLES. 237 



and all contained larvae except one, and it had a 

 dead fiddler scarab in it. We removed the cocoons 

 and put them in a box. On November 20 v^e ex- 

 amined the box and found that all had pupated ex- 

 cept two, and the beetles had even emerged from 

 all but one. We wanted to preserve the beetles, 

 so put several in methylated spirits (having no 

 killing bottle at hand); we also put the remain- 

 ing pupa in the spirits. For about an hour after 

 leaving them in the spirits they seemed dead ; we 

 placed two beetles in a box along with the pupa. 

 In a few days the two beetles were very 

 much alive, but all that remained of the. pupa 

 was a mere shell. (This note was recorded in the 

 Australian Naturalist, Sydney, April, 191 7, by M. 

 N. Brewster.) 



The Digger Scarabs (Plate 29, Figs, 2, 3, and 4) 

 ("dung beetles" or sexton beetles). The mother 

 digger makes a hole in dung and inserts an egg in 

 it; the larva feeds on the dung, getting sustenance 

 therefrom. Most of these beetles differ from the 

 other scarabs in having thick rounded bodies and 

 elytra. Some of them are almost as round as a ball 

 on the upper surface. The head is fitted for 

 digging and shovelling, for it is broad with a pro- 

 jecting rim at the outer edge which acts as a shovel; 

 the legs also are fitted for digging. The common 

 genus of this type is Onthophagns (Plate 29, Fig. 2) 

 i They are dark beetles, and in most species 

 ; the male has additional spines or ornamental pro- 

 jections ; in one genus, Bolboceras, the head of the 

 male is prolonged into a long horizontal probos- 

 cis, whereas the female's head is a normal type. In 



