COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 191 



chafers, exhibit some very remarkable instincts in 

 forming a proper nidus or receptacle for their eggs, 

 and providing for the welfare of their progeny. This 

 is witnessed to a certain extent in the common dor 

 or clock ( Geotrupes stercorarius) — an insect whose 

 " drowsy hum" falls so often on our ear during a 

 walk in the country in the stillness of an autumnal 

 twilight — which digs a cylindrical hole in the earth, 

 often of considerable depth, and conveys a small 

 quantity of dung to the bottom, in which she de- 

 posits her eggs. But the habits of the group now 

 under consideration, which is extensively diffused 

 over Africa and the south of Europe, but has no 

 representative in Britain, are greatly more fitted 

 to attract attention. These insects, like our own 

 Geotrupidce, or earth-borers, as the term signi- 

 fies, likewise deposit their eggs in dung ; but each 

 egg is placed in the centre of a small ball or pellet 

 carefully prepared for this purpose. When the pel- 

 let is dry, it has generally to be transported to a 

 considerable distance, that it may be buried in a 

 deep hole previously dug for its reception. To a 

 creature so imperfectly provided with members that 

 can be employed as instruments of prehension, the 

 conveyance of an object of some size must obvi- 

 ously be a task of considerable difficulty. Unable 

 to raise the load from the ground, its only resource 

 is to roll it along the surface ; but instead of using 

 its head for this purpose, as some birds are said to 

 do when obliged to remove their eggs from one 



