198 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



knowledge, under the candlestick. A few blows 

 were struck on the table, and, to his great surprise, 

 the candlesticks began to move about, apparently 

 without any agency ; and his surprise was not 

 much lessened when, on taking one of them up, he 

 discovered that it was only a chafer that moved."* 



"An insect of the size of a May-bug," says 

 another writer, evidently in relation to one of these 

 beetles, " is of the greatest utility in so hot a cli- 

 mate ; it is the scavenger and dustman of the whole 

 country. It labours with indefatigable industry to 

 collect all the filth that might infest the air, and 

 makes small balls of it, which it hides very deep in 

 holes which it has dug in the earth. It breeds in 

 sufficient numbers to keep the town and the villages 

 clean."f 



The next genus which has been selected to illus- 

 trate the lamellicorn tribe of beetles is named 



ONTHOPHAGUS, 



a term that has reference to their habits, being 

 composed of the two Greek words ov0o;, dung, and 

 0170$, an eater or consumer. It consists of a con- 

 siderable number of species, which are inferior in 

 size to the generality of their dung-devouring 

 confederates, excepting the Aphodii, which form 



* Catesby's Carolina. 



f Proyart's History of Loango. 



