CELLAR BEETLES AND MEAL WORMS 35 



in its not unfrequent occurrence in churchyards. Its 

 disgusting odour is produced by the vaporisation of a 

 fluid found in two oblong vesicles near the tail. 



An unusual length of legs is generally an indica- 

 tion of agility, but not so with Blaps, which is a very 

 tortoise in speed. It leisurely lifts one leg after the 

 other, cautiously bringing them again to the ground, as 

 though its vitality were well-nigh exhausted, and these 

 were its last feeble efforts before giving up the ghost. 

 Nothing could be farther from the truth, however, for 

 its stock of vitality is extraordinary, and enables it to 

 survive dangers and difficulties which would speedily 

 be fatal to less hardy creatures. About a century and 

 a half ago, when entomology was hardly yet a science, 

 and the means of destruction of insect life not so varied 

 or efficacious as at present, a struggle, so celebrated as 

 to have been thought worthy of permanent record in the 

 '' Transactions of the Royal Society," took place between 

 a Blaps and an entomologist. The latter made no less 

 than four different attempts at the execution of the 

 former, by immersing it in spirits of wine for periods of 

 increasing length, the last extending over some twelve 

 hours. On each occasion life appeared to be extinct, 

 but each time also, on being removed from the fluid, the 

 apparent corpse became reanimated, and the victim of 

 alcoholic excess entered on a new lease of life, till at 

 last the sentence was remitted, and the insect lived with 

 its captor unmolested for three years afterwards, and 

 even then the record of its experiences was brought to a 

 close, not by its own decease, but by the carelessness of 

 a domestic, who allowed it to escape. 



This insect is often found in cellars, stables, and out- 

 houses, dark and damp spots being especially congenial 

 to its tastes. It shuns the light of day, and is chiefly 



