MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 257 



Insects in general are remarkable for their cleanliness ; 

 however filthy the substances which they inhabit, yet 

 they so manage as to keep themselves personally neat. 

 Several, however, by no means deserve this character ; 

 and I fear you will scarcely credit me when I tell you 

 that some shelter themselves under an umbrella formed 

 of their own excrement ! You will exclaim, perhaps, 

 that there is no parallel case in all nature ; it may be 

 so ; - yet as I am bound to confess the faults of insects 

 as w_ll as to extol their virtues, I must not conceal 

 from you this opprobrium. Beetles of three different 

 genera are given to this Hottentot habit. The first to 

 which I shall introduce you is one that has long been 

 celebrated under the name of the beetle of the lily 

 (Lema merdigera, Cantaride de y Gigli, Vallisn.) The 

 larvae of this insect have a very tender skin, which ap- 

 pears to require some covering from the impressions 

 of the external air and from the rays of the sun ; and it 

 finds nothing so well adapted to answer these purposes, 

 and probably also to conceal itself from the birds, as its 

 own excrement, with which it covers itself in the follow- 

 ing manner. Its anus is remarkably situated, being on 

 the back of the last segment of the body, and not at or 

 under its extremity, as obtains in most insects. By 

 means of such a position, the excrement when it issues 

 from the body, instead of being pushed away and fall- 

 ing, is lifted up above the back in the direction of the 

 head. When entirely clear of the passage, it falls, and 

 is retained, though slightly, by its viscosity. The grub 

 next, by a movement of its segments, conducts it from 

 the place where it fell to the vicinity of the head. It 

 effects this by swelling the segment on which the excre- 



VOL. II. S 



