102 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



crawls upon it, and straightway burrows through the 

 soft material, and is lost to sight. When she for it is 

 the female who does the work reaches the earth, 

 she does not cease to burrow, but goes on with her 

 labour until she has excavated a perpendicular tunnel 

 some twelve inches in depth, and carried a quantity 

 of the cowdung into it. In this substance she de- 

 posits an egg, crawls out of the burrow, and proceeds 

 to make another, and so goes on until she has laid all 

 her eggs. 



The egg remains in its concealment until it is 

 hatched, and then the larva consumes the food which 

 its mother has taken the trouble to bring down for it. 

 After this is eaten, the grub is strong enough to 

 ascend the burrow and obtain as much food as it 

 wants at the entrance. Within this retreat the larva 

 passes through its transformations, and then ascends 

 to the outer air, ready to take its part in the work of 

 preparing nurseries for a future progeny. Seven 

 species of Geotrupes are known in England. Twice 

 as many species have been described, but recent 

 investigations have show T n that exactly half the 

 supposed species were simple varieties. 



In the accompanying woodcut is represented a 

 Beetle of a very odd appearance, the sides of the 

 thorax being prolonged into a pair of very formidable 

 horns, a shorter horn occupying the centre of the 

 anterior margin. This is the male Geotrupes typlioeus, 

 a near relative of the preceding insect. The female 

 has only the veriest rudiments of horns, the anterior 

 angles of the thorax being merely developed into a 



