154 HISTORY OF 



size, their manners, or their formation. That 

 beetle which the Americans call the Tumble-dung, 

 particularly demands our attention ; it is all over 

 of a dusky black, rounder than those animals are 

 generally found to be, and so strong, though not 

 much larger than the common black beetle, 'that 

 if one of them be put under a brass candlestick, 

 it will cause it to move backwards and forwards 

 as if it were by an invisible hand, to the admira- 

 tion of those who are not accustomed to the sight. 

 But this strength is given it for much more useful 

 purposes than those of exciting human curiosity, 

 for there is no creature more laborious either in 

 seeking subsistence, or in providing a proper re- 

 treat for its young. They are endowed with sa- 

 gacity to discover subsistence by their excellent 

 smelling, which directs them in flights to excre- 

 ments just fallen from man or beast, on which 

 they instantly drop, and fall unanimously to work 

 in forming round balls or pellets thereof, in the 

 middle of which they lay an egg. These pellets 

 in September they convey three feet deep in the 

 earth, where they lie till the approach of spring, 

 when the eggs are hatched, the nests burst, and 

 the insects find their way out of the earth. They 

 assist each other with indefatigable industry in 

 rolling these globular pellets to the place where 

 they are to be buried. This they are to perform 

 with the tail foremost, by raising up their hinder 

 part, and shoving along the ball with their hind 

 feet. They are always accompanied with other 

 beetles of a larger size, and of a more elegant 

 structure and colour. The breast of this is cover- 



