The Sacred Beetle 



unsavoury task, several of them give out a 

 powerful scent of musk, while their bellies 

 shine like polished metal. The Mimic 

 Geotrupes has gleams of copper and gold 

 beneath; the Stercoraelous Geotrupes has a 

 belly of amethystine violet. But generally 

 their colouring is black. The Dung-beetles 

 in gorgeous raiment, those veritable living 

 gems, belong to the tropics. Upper Egypt 

 can show us under its Camel-dung a Beetle 

 rivalling the emerald's brilliant green; 

 Guiana, Brazil and Senegambia boast of 

 Copres of a metallic red, rich as that of 

 copper and ruby-bright. The Dung-beetles 

 of our climes cannot flaunt such jewellery, 

 but they are no less remarkable for their 

 habits. 



What excitement over a single patch of 

 Cow-dung! Never did adventurers hurry- 

 ing from the four corners of the earth dis- 

 play such eagerness in working a Californian 

 claim. Before the sun becomes too hot, they 

 are there in their hundreds, large and small, 

 of every sort, shape and size, hastening to 

 carve themselves a slice of the common cake. 

 There are some that labour in the open air 

 and scrape the surface; there are others that 

 dig themselves galleries in the thick of the 

 heap, in search of choice veins; some work 

 5 



