THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



139 



INNOXIOUS INSECTS. 



THE HORNED PXS^XljU^—PassaJxs eornxtu.% Pabr. 



(('oleopteva, LucanicUv.) 



Many an one will doubtless 

 recognize in the insect illustrated 

 at Figure 62, e, the '^ bug " with 

 which he, or she, as a ebild, was 

 wont to play at ''oxen" — the 

 curved horn on the head forming 

 such an inviting projection on 

 which to hitch, by means of a 

 thread, small chips and other 

 diminutive objects, to be dragged 

 by the rather awkward beast of 

 of burden. Every pioneer in 

 this Western countrj', as he rolled over huge decayed logs, in the work of clear- 

 ing his land to make it ready for the plow, must have become familiar with this 

 highly polished coal-black beetle. Every woodsman who has split or 

 grubbed an old stump, will be likely to recognize in this horned " bug " an old 

 acquaintance. Every entomologist who has dug into or pulled to pieces old 

 rotting stumps, in search for other treasures, must time and again have seen 

 this laz}', clumsy Passalus tumbling down with the loose and crumbling- 

 dust and excreta of its own making, and expi-essing its disapproval of such 

 summary disturbance in the plainest manner, by emitting a peculiar half- 

 hissing, half-creaking noise. And though met with at almost every step in 

 his forest rambles, 



' ' Where wild birds sing beneath the leafy bowers, ' ' 



the inquisitive student has no doubt found himself re^Jeatedly examining 

 specimens, not only to admire the elegance and beauty of form, but to as- 

 certain the means by which the peculiar noise is produced. A sufficiently 

 careful examination will end in the knowledge that it is caused by the rub- 

 bing of the rather horny terminal joints of the abdomen, known as the 

 pygidium, against the inside of the hard wing-covers. 



This insect ca:inot be considered injurious in any sense of the word. 



