THE DORR BEETLE. 321 



death, in whatever state they find them. One or 

 two beasts, it is said, when captured, feign death. 

 With these exceptions, we remember none of the 

 other orders of creation, that have recourse to such 

 an expedient upon any emergency ; but with 

 insects it is by no means an uncommon procedure, 

 most probably resorted to by them for a motive we 

 are not fully acquainted with, and which is in all 

 likelihood attended with the success it was designed 

 to effect. 



The perfect cleanliness of these creatures is a 

 very notable circumstance, when we consider that 

 nearly their whole lives are passed in burrowing in 

 the earth, and removing nuisances ; yet such is the 

 admirable polish of their coating and limbs, that we 

 very seldom find any soil adhering to them. The 

 meloe, and some of the scarabaei, upon first emerg- 

 ing from their winter's retreat, are commonly found 

 with earth clinging to them ; but the removal of 

 this is one of the first operations of the creature ; 

 and all the beetle race, the chief occupation of which 

 is crawling about the soil, and such dirty employs, 

 are notwithstanding remarkable for the glossiness 

 of their covering, and freedom from defilements of 

 any kind. But purity of vesture seems to be a 

 principal precept of nature, and observable through- 

 out creation. Fishes, from the nature of the ele- 

 ment in which they reside, can contract but little 

 impurity. Birds are unceasingly attentive to neat- 



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