﻿THE LAMELLICORNES, OR " CHAFERS." 117 



into two by the side margin of the head; the abdomen 

 short, with six free ventral segments ; the mandibles and 

 labrum not hidden by the clypeus ; the body convex, 

 the thorax being very large ; the intermediate coxae ob- 

 liqne and the anterior transverse ; and the pygidium not 

 quite covered by the elytra. \ 



Geotrupes stercorarius, the well-known " shard-born 

 beetle/' '^ Clock/' or " Dumble-dor" (the last possibly 

 an inflection of the American " Tumble-dung/' a name 

 given on account of certain of these insects rolling pel- 

 lets of the excrement of cattle, in which they deposit 

 the eggs), is common all over the country; flying 

 strongly, though in a blundering sort of way, towards 

 evening ; and often simulating death, by keeping motion- 

 less and stretching out its legs like pieces of wire, when 

 handled. Sometimes it is observed on the wing in the 

 hot sunshine, suggesting the idea of an owl under similar 

 circumstances. This insect is sometimes called '' Lousy 

 Watchman " among the vulgar ; the qualifying epithet 

 being deserved from its being frequently infested on the 

 lower surface by several of a species of Gamasus ; though 

 it is not easy to comprehend hoAV so delicately constructed 

 a parasite can extract a meal through the stout armour 

 of the beetle in question. 



The strength of the Geotrupes is very great, so much 

 so, that it is scarcely possible to retain one in the hand : 

 this is caused by the great development of the thorax, 

 containing the muscles of the anterior spinose digging 

 legs. The female, usually in the autumn, digs a bur- 

 row, about a foot deep, into the earth beneath patches 

 of cow-dung, a portion of which is carried down as food 

 for the larva to be hatched from the egg she deposits at 

 the bottom. 



