2/8 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



stores up there, so that when the larva is hatched it will have its 

 natural food at once. The species of another group form the genus 

 Trox, and they have projecting mandibles. These species are 

 small, but are readily distinguished on account of their grey colour 

 and the roughness of their elytra ; they like the dust and they 

 are exactly of its colour, and one of them may often be seen on 

 dusty roads {Trox sabulosiis). It is a little beetle about a third 

 of an inch long, having the elytra furrowed and ornamented with 

 little tufts of hair. The adults and the larv'se feed on the dead 

 bodies of animals. 



There are several well characterised kinds of insects amongst 

 the CoprincB (or the Copropliagi of older authors), and their duty 

 is to act as manurers of the soil. The genus ApJiodiiis has 

 many species, which are found very generally over the world. 

 They have oblong bodies, and are about the smallest of the 

 Scaralumdce. Aplwdius finictaritts is to be found on all dung, and 

 its lustrous black colour and red elytra are very marked. Aphodius 

 fossor is found in the same places, and is known by its perfect 

 black colour and larger size. 



These dung beetles keep their skins glossy and beautifully 

 shining by secreting an oily fluid, which prevents all the nasty 

 things they live amongst collecting upon them, or staining their 

 skins. This is particularly observable in the sacred beetle of the 

 Egyptians, Ateudiiis sacer, which belongs to the group of the 

 Coprina, formerly called Pihdarcs. The group to which this genus 

 belongs is world-wide, and the American forms are representative 

 of the European. The genus just mentioned, and which may 

 be considered the most important, contains large black Colcoptcra, 

 which are particularly numerous around the Mediterranean. Their 

 great broad and flat bodies attract attention at once. 



The sacred beetles have the fore legs enlarged, and furnished 

 with several very strong tooth-like spines, but there is no tarsus 

 at their ends, and they are evidently designed for a special pur- 

 pose. The heads of the beetles clearly point to the same design, 

 and are admirably adapted for the peculiar habits of the species. 

 The Egyptians represented this beetle — which is now common 

 in Provence and in eastern and northern Europe, as well as in 

 North Africa and Egypt — on their oldest monuments ; they 



