BEETLES. 99 



The Flying Hart, a BeetIuF. so called. 



In Virginia and New England, there h 

 a large flying beetle of a dark shining brown 

 colour, with a huge pair of horns, in pro- 

 portion to the body, shaped and branched 

 exactly like a stag or hart's horn, from which 

 last it hath its derivation, and is called the 

 Flying Hart. It flies high and swift, and 

 rests commonly upon branches or trunks of 

 standing trees, where, as soon as it has taken 

 up its station, it begins with a shrill chirp- 

 ing voice, which it raises by little and little 

 till it makes the whole woods ring again, 

 and then lessens gradually till it ceases with 

 a kind of silent murmur, as if the little 

 creature had sung itself asleep ; then it flies 

 to some other place, and begins the same 

 tune again. 



The horns are of a shining hard sub- 

 stance, and the tips of them touch the same 

 plane with the belly. — Philosophical 

 Transactions: 



