318 THE DOR BEETLE. 



and he is remarkable, as well as others of his tribe, for absence 

 of all unsightly traces of his habits or resorts. 



To look at the unsullied polish of his mail, one might sup- 

 pose him risen, like the green gold-chafer, from a bed of roses; 

 whereas, being a true Scarabaeus in nature, if not in name, 

 there is little doubt, when we see him in his evening flight, 

 of his having left recently a bed of very opposite description 

 a bed, in short, of dung wherein, through the live-long day, 

 he has been reposing; or whereat, like his Egyptian prototype, 

 he has been hard at work, helping, perhaps, his partner to roll 

 masses for enclosure of her eggs, or to bore holes for their 

 reception. 



The drone of the dor-beetle was once taken as a prognostic 

 of fine weather, and is esteemed by some people, although a 

 harsh, yet by no means an " undelightful hum." To us, asso- 

 ciate though it be with warm and quiet evenings, there is 

 always a sort of sadness in its sound, perhaps because it 

 reminds us of Gray's " Elegy," perhaps because, being most 

 often heard towards autumn, it comes like a requiem of depart- 

 ing summer. 



Allied to the above, as belonging to the useful company of 

 insect scavengers, are the " Burying Beetles," 1 so called from 

 their being accustomed to perform the office of grave-diggers 

 to defunct frogs, birds, moles, " mice, and such small gear," 

 whose bodies would else cumber the ground more extensively. 

 A common species of this serviceable family of the Coleop- 

 terous order is a pretty-looking insect, considerably smaller 

 than the " great dor," and easily distinguishable from that and 

 other black beetles by two broad scalloped bands of deep 

 orange-colour painted across its black wing-cases, which are a 

 good deal shorter than the body, and have the appearance 

 of being truncated, or abruptly cut across the ends. The 

 thorax, head, and legs are of a deep black, also the body; the 



1 Necrophorus vespillo. See Vignette. 



