Lieut. -Col. Sykes upon Copris Midas. 131 



It was some time before my ear directed me to the tin box cOuCain- 

 ing the balls, which stood upon a bookcase. If t;'5s clear an insect 

 was endeavourinn^ to liberate itseAl I'his object not being eifected 

 at one o'clock in the morning, I retired to rest. The scratching con- 

 tinued the whole of the '20th, and until I went to bed. Previously 

 to retiring for the night, to facilitate the exit of the creature, I dropped 

 water upon the ball to soften the very hard and compact crust. At 

 sunrise on the morning of the 21st, I found the fine Copris at liberty, 

 H inch long, and rVths of an inch wide, now exhibited to the Society. 

 It must have been thirty-four hours at work; had been thirteen months 

 in the pupa state, in my possession ; and may have been thrice the 

 time in the same state before it was found by my people. Tlie se- 

 cond ball remained unaltered, nor were there any indications what- 

 ever of approaching development in the tenant. It was allowed 

 to remain in the tin box, and looked at after very short intervals of 

 time. It was, however, the 4th of October ere the second specimen 

 of Copris, now before the Society, worked its way out from its prison, 

 and its labour must have been infinitely more severe than that of 

 its predecessor, as I did not give it any aid by softening the crust 

 of the ball with water. It had been sixteen months in my posses- 

 sion in the pupa state. Having been found in the same locality 

 with the preceding specimen, we may infer, with a probability of 

 truth, that the larvae enclosed themselves (or were enclosed) at the 

 same period ; and we nevertheless see that, under precisely similar 

 circumstances, the perfect development of one specimen preceded 

 that of the other by seventy-five days. 



I will scarcely speculate upon the manner, the modus operandi, in 

 which the grubs contrived to imprison themselves within perfect 

 hollow balls of prepared mortar, of two diflferent kinds in the diflferent 

 coats, for the subject is not satisfactorily explicable to me. Are we 

 to understand that the larvae prepared their balls with workman-like 

 accuracy and perfect symmetry, leaving a hole to get in at, and that 

 they took in with them only such a quantity of prepared clay as 

 should suffice, and no more, for the exact sealing of the hole by 

 which they entered ? or are we to understand that a small family of 

 the larvae laboured to enclose individuals successively, until there 

 remained but one, which, unable to enclose itself, became a sacrifice 

 for the good of the community ? The larvae of the cockchafFer, 

 stagchafFer, and other beetles, scoop out hollows in clods of earth, 

 and the ball of the latter is described to be larger than a hen's e^g ; 

 but I do not learn whether or not it be without hole or fissure. The 

 larva itself is said to remain in that state for two or three years or 

 more ere it buries itself in its ball : its pupa remains in that state 



VOL. I. PART II. L 



