Author's Preface 



youngsters' cheeks are just beginning to melt 

 dehciously. Thus the zeal of my little 

 collaborators is kept alive. There is no fear 

 of my boarders starving: their larder will be 

 lavishly supplied. 



Who are these boarders? Well, first and 

 foremost the Sacred Beetle, the chief subject 

 of my present investigations. Serignan's 

 long screen of hills might well mark his 

 extreme northern boundary. Here ends the 

 Mediterranean flora, whose last ligneous re- 

 presentatives are the arboraceous heather and 

 the arbutus-tree; and here, in all probability, 

 the mighty pill-maker, a passionate lover of 

 the sun, terminates his arctic explorations. 

 He abounds on the hot slopes facing the 

 south and in the narrow belt of plain 

 sheltered by that powerful reflector. Ac- 

 cording to all appearances, the elegant Gallic 

 Bolboceras and the stalwart Spanish Copris 

 likewise stop at this line; for both are as 

 sensitive to cold as he. To these curious 

 Dung-beetles, whose private habits are so 

 little known, let us add the Gymnopleuri, the 

 Minotaur, the Geotrupes, the Onthophagi. 

 They are all welcomed in my cages, for all, 

 I am convinced beforehand, have surprises in 

 store for us in the details of their under- 

 ground business. 



