ORDER I, BEETLES. 39 



a large amount of manure, which he loses if his cattle are 

 allowed to ramble in the woods and pastures ; and, lastly, 

 by having no inclosures, except around his garden and or- 

 chards (and hedges are even here far better than fences), he 

 will beautify his whole estate and country by depriving it 

 of that confined and prison-like appearance which wood 

 fences and stone walls necessarily give it. 



It is a very difficult matter to eradicate inveterate super- 

 stitions, and it is equally hard to break up old habits. 

 Notwithstanding the plow has been used from time almost 

 immemorial, the inhabitants of St. Domingo have not yet 

 adopted it, but still prefer the hoe and spade, and to hoe 

 and plant an acre of Indian corn is there the work of four 

 weeks for one man. But " a word to the wise should be 

 sufficient." 



With regard to wood-destroying insects in general, it 

 must be remarked that they are of the greatest importance 

 in the tropics, as well as in those uninhabited countries 

 where many hundred miles are often covered with impene- 

 trable forests, where hurricanes, tempests, and earthquakes 

 break down gigantic trees, v/hich, if left alone, would not 

 decay for years, but which are reduced to dust in a short 

 time by wood-eating insects, and a new and vigorous vege- 

 tation springs up from the soil made 

 fertile by that dust. This phenomenon 

 may be observed to a certain extent 

 even in our own woods. 



One of these Beetles, which, in com- 

 pany with its offspring, feeds on rotten 

 wood, is 



The Horned Passalus {Passalus 

 coriiutus). — This Beetle is about IJ 

 inches long. It is black, and has a 

 slender body. Its antennte are rather 

 more denticulated than those of the Homed Passalus. 



