114 INSECTS ABIiOAD. 



has just been described, and the curious insert which is shown 

 in the illustration below. The genus to which it belongs 

 is distinguished by the hard and rounded body, the very long 

 curved legs, and the general crab-like look of the insects. They 

 are spread over a considerable portion of the globe, and, indeed. 

 few of the wanner parts seem to be without them. Many 

 species, such as our present ex am] tie, inhabit Southern Africa; 

 one, Sisyphus ScJicefferi, is known to be European; and others 

 are Asiatic. The most remarkable of the latter is the smallest 

 of the genus, called Sisyphus mimUus, the body of which is 

 scarcely as large as a swan-shot. 



All the legs of the Sisyphus are enormously lengthened, and 

 are bent in a most singular fashion, the peculiar curvature not 

 being properly visible unless the insect be viewed from behind 



and nearly at the level of 

 the eye. This peculiar form 

 of the leg is probably useful 

 to the insect in rolling its 

 egg-balls. 



The colour of this Beetle 

 ■-v_ is dull brownish black, but 

 npon the elytra are a number 

 Pio -sisyphus muriptfus. of tufts of jet-black downy 



(Brown-black, with j.. l-blark lulls.) ° J 



hairs, that stand boldly from 

 the surface on which they are planted, and are very con- 

 spicuous. The thorax is covered with a coating of very short 

 and very dense down of a dark-brown hue, something like the 

 fur of the mole. All these insects fly well, and, like our 

 common Eose Beetles, keep the elytra almost closed, instead of 

 spreading them as most Beetles do, when they fly. 



The generic name of Sisyphus is given to these Beetles because 

 their task of rolling their egg-balls has an evident analogy with 

 that of the mythological Sisyphus. The specific name muricatus 

 signifies "spiky," or "prickly," and is given to the insect on 

 account of the bold spike-like hair-tufts with which its elytra 

 are studded. The word comes from the Latin murex, a whelk, 

 which, in the plural (mil rices), was employed to signify caltrops, 

 or "crow's feet," ue. iron spikes thrown on the ground to arrest 

 the progress of cavalry. 



I. cannot quit these insects without ([noting a few extracts 



