The Dung-Beetles of the Pampas 



sow) give us a wrong notion of the insect. 

 On the contrary, it is, Hke the last, an elegant 

 Dung-beetle, dark-bronze, thickset, square- 

 shaped like our Bison Onitis ^ and almost as 

 large. It also practises the same industry, 

 at least as regards the general effect of the 

 work. 



Its burrow branches into a small number 

 of cylindrical cells, forming the homes of 

 as many larvae. For each of these the pro- 

 visions consist of a parcel of Cow-dung, 

 about an inch deep. The m,aterial is care- 

 fully packed and fills the bottom of the cavity, 

 just as a soft paste would do when pressed 

 down in a mould. Until now the work is 

 similar to that of the Bison Onitis; but the 

 resemblance goes no farther and is replaced 

 by profound and curious differences, having 

 no connection with what the Dung-beetles of 

 our own parts show us. 



As we know, our sausage-makers, Onites 

 and Geotrupes alike, place the egg at the 

 lower end of their cylinder, in a cell con- 

 trived in the very midst of the mass of food- 

 stuffs. Their rival in the pampas adopts 

 a diametrically opposite method : she places 

 the egg above the victuals, at the upper end 



1 Cf. The Sacred Beetle and Others: chap. xvi. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



245 



