126 



COLEOPTERA. 



is completed. We select one or two familiar ex- 

 amples as illustrative of the habits of this immense 

 group. 



The Scavenger Beetles (Geotrupes) are among the 

 most useful insects met with in tropical climates: no 

 sooner is the presence of filth announced by its scent, 

 than the scavengers are heard coming booming up the 

 wind, and roll it away at once in large pieces as big as 

 billiard balls, and when they reach a place proper by its 

 softness for the deposit of their eggs, and the safety of 

 their young, they dig the soil out from beneath the ball, 

 till they have quite let it down and covered it. They 

 then lay their eggs within the mass. While the larvae 

 are growing, they devour the inside of the ball before 

 coming above ground. These beetles, with their gigantic 

 balls, look like Atlas with the world on his back, only 

 they go backwards and with their heads down, push with 

 their hind legs, as if a boy should roll a snow-ball with 

 his legs while standing on his head. DK. LIVINGSTONE. 



FlG. 83. THE GOLIATH BEETLE, ASD HERCULES BEETLE. 



The Laniellicorn beetles embrace some of the 

 largest of the insect race, equally remarkable for 



