Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ivz. {i()i2), Ah. H. n 



-entirely upon troublesome weeds, and surely no one can 

 say that we should be indifferent to the labours of the 

 scavengers ! The coprophagous beetle not only removes 

 ■objectionable and dangerous substances, but buries them 

 beneath the earth, where it gorges itself on the " filth," 

 and, ]:)assing it through its own alimentary canal, converts 

 it into valuable manure. Let any who doubt this read 

 the veteran Fabre's " Life and Love of the Insect." 



The evidence of the few insects found in the pellets of 

 the Stamford Little Owls would, according to the arbitrary 

 classification, be against the bird. It had eaten four 

 beneficial, one harmful, and one indifferent species. But 

 some of the carnivorous beetles are vegetable feeders also ; 

 the indifferent Geotnipes must be classed as a most useful 

 ally, and the earwig, though destructive in a garden, does 

 little real damage to food vegetables. 



Nor can we safely judge by the vertebrate remains. 

 Shrews, which, as they are insectivorous, are usually classed 

 as beneficial, had been eaten by both the Egyptian and 

 European birds, and the troublesome sparrow had been 

 -devoured by apparently the same bird which had eaten a 

 useful insectivorous species. The humanitarian would 

 contend, no doubt, that the Egyptian birds had eaten 

 scorpions, and therefore must be useful, but the false 

 scorpions are not dangerous like their tailed relatives ; 

 indeed, they are insectivorous like their other relations, the 

 spiders. 



