The Giant Scarites 



the audacity to rush at the finger which has 

 touched him. Here of a surety is one not 

 easily intimidated. I look twice before I 

 handle him. 



I lodge my strangers partly under a wire- 

 gauze cover and partly in glass jars, all sup- 

 plied with a layer of sand. Each of them with- 

 out delay digs himself a burrow. The in- 

 sect bends his head a long way down and, 

 with the points of his mandibles, brought to- 

 gether to form a pick-axe, he hews, digs and 

 excavates with a will. The fore-legs, spread 

 out and armed with hooks, gather the dust 

 and rubbish into a load which is thrust 

 backwards. In this way, a mound rises on 

 the threshold of the burrow. The dwelling 

 grows deeper quickly and by a gentle slope 

 reaches the bottom of the jar. 



Checked in the downward direction, the 

 Scarites now digs against the glass wall and 

 continues his work horizontally until he has 

 obtained a length of nearly twelve inches in 

 all. 



This arrangement of the gallery, almost 

 the whole of which runs just under the glass, 

 is very useful to me, enabling me to follow 

 the insect in the privacy of its home. If I 

 wish to observe its underground operations, 

 all that I need do is to remove the opaque 

 365 



