130 Lieut. Col. Sykes upon Cop^'h Midas. 



XXIX. Observations iqion the Habits of Co^x\&M\(\a.^. By 

 Lieut. -Colonel W. H. Sykes, F.R.S., &;c. 



[Read January 5, 1835.] 



In submitting to the examination of the members, of the Entomolo- 

 gical Society two specimens of the Copris Midas, together with their 

 receptacles in the pupa state, it may be acceptable to the Society to 

 be made acquainted with the circumstances connected with their 

 development under my observation. 



At Poona, in the month of June, 1826, some of my palankeen- 

 bearers were employed in loosening with pickaxes a friable and de- 

 composing mica and greenstone, called mohrum, for the purpose of 

 spreading it on my garden-walks instead of gravel. While thus 

 employed, they turned up with their pickaxes, from some depth be- 

 low the surface, four hard perfect balls. At first they considered 

 them stone cannon-shot, the Poona cantonment and and its imme- 

 diate neighbourhood having been the site of two great battles ; but 

 observing that the pickaxe had injured one of the balls, and that it 

 was hollow, they brought the whole to me. I immediately satisfied 

 myself that they were of compact clay, well kneaded up with com- 

 minuted grass and very minute pebbles, forming, in fact, a well- 

 digested mortar. They were two inches in diameter, and perfectly 

 globular, and without hole, cicatrice or fissure. The injured ball 

 contained an amorphous animal mass, which I immediately pro- 

 nounced to be the pupa of an unknown species of insect, — at least 

 unknown to me. On removing the pupa from the broken ball the 

 crust was found to consist of two coats ; the interior surface was 

 quite smooth, and formed of finer clay, much more elaborated than 

 than the external coat, which was somewhat rough. The dia- 

 meter of the hollow within the ball was l-r^o^ths of an inch ; the 

 thickness, therefore, of the crust was ^ths of an inch. Another of 

 these balls had its chamber l-rVths of an inch, and the crust was 

 TVths of an inch thick. To ascertain the insect proprietor of these 

 curious domiciles, I placed two of the balls in a tin box, and con- 

 tinued for some months to watch them with attention ; but my pa- 

 tience being wearied out, I abandoned further care of them, and put 

 the box away. The third ball I gave to a lady, who, despairing of 

 any change taking place, after many months' observation, broke it, 

 but found the pupa inside quite fresh. Thirteen months had passed 

 away, and I had forgotten the balls, when, on the night of the 19th 

 of July 1827, being in my study, I heard a low scratching sound. 



