COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 97 



nuisances chiefly on a numerous host of small bee- 

 tles belonging to the genera Aphodius, Onthopha- 

 gus, Akochara, &c. Some kinds (such as the Geo- 

 trupidce) convey the dung to the bottom of holes dug 

 to receive it, and make it a receptacle for their eggs ; 

 others consume it, and by perforating the mass in all 

 directions, make it pervious to the air and wind, by 

 which it is soon dried and scattered, leaving the herb- 

 age on which it rested to spring with renewed vigour. 

 In warmer countries, where the task becomes more 

 onerous, from the increased number of large mam- 

 miferous animals, the species mentioned are super- 

 seded or assisted by others more powerfully gifted, 

 such as the gigantic Scarabaei, the Phanaei, and 

 Ateuchi, whose singular habits we shall afterwards 

 describe. New Holland, on the contrary, being 

 destitute of large animals, furnishes scarcely any 

 coprophagous insects, except a few scarce species, 

 most of which are referable to a single genus. 



As the different continents produce various kinds 

 of the higher animals not occurring in other regions, 

 they are in like manner distinguished by possessing 

 peculiar species of insects. Many of these will be 

 afterwards particularized. The geographical distri- 

 bution of the Coleoptera is still so imperfectly un- 

 derstood, that the attempts which have been made 

 to illustrate it consist not so much in an exposition 

 of the general principles by which it is regulated, 

 as in a detail of insulated facts and observations. 

 These it will be more satisfactory to give hereafter 



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