AN INSECT EXCAVATOR. 101 



ful sights presented to us in the insect world there 

 is none to equal it in interest, none so calculated 

 to enlist our sympathies on the part of the patient, 

 skilful, and unwearied little labourers of this 

 kingdom of nature. Guided by the line it has 

 marked out, the workman steps into the circle, 

 and sets to work with a hearty good will, and 

 with a degree of diligence and excavating skill 

 that would put our railroad " navigators " to the 

 blush. Shower after shower of sand is seen flying 

 up and beyond the boundary described, with the 

 most unintermitting diligence, until the insect has 

 completed the circle again; arrived there, it turns 

 round and excavates back again until it arrives at 

 the same point. But it may perhaps be asked, 

 where are its tools, and by what means does it 

 succeed in casting up these loads of earth ? We 

 fear that at best any written description will 

 hardly do justice to our ingenious labourer; its 

 method, however, is as follows : It uses the head 

 as the spade, or rather shovel, and in the strangest 

 manner it fills the shovel with one of its feet with 

 a load of sand, and then by a quick movement of 

 the head tosses it out of the cavity. By working 

 in alternate directions it manages so as never to 



