The Geotrupes: the Public Health 



view ! To enumerate all those who benefit, 

 directly or indirectly, by the Dung-beetle's 

 work would be impossible, so inextricably 

 interlinked is all that exists. I think of the 

 Warbler, who will stuff the mattress of his 

 nest with the tiny stalks retted by the rain, 

 and sun; the caterpillar of some Psyche, 

 which will construct its Moth-case by Im- 

 bricating the remnants of those same stalks; 

 little Cockchafers, who will nibble the 

 anthers of the tall grasses; tiny Weevils, 

 who will turn the ripe seeds Into cradles for 

 their grubs; tribes of Aphides, who wlllsettle 

 under the leaves; and Ants, who will come 

 and slake their thirst at the sugary cornicles 

 of the last-named herd. 



Let us be content with this list, or we 

 shall never have done. A whole world Is 

 benefited by the agricultural Industry of the 

 Dung-beetle, that burler of manure : first the 

 plant and then all that live upon the plant. 

 A small world, a very small world, as small 

 as you please, but after all not a negligible 

 world. It Is of such trifles that the great 

 Integral of life Is composed, even as the 

 integral of the mathematicians Is composed 

 of quantities neighbouring on o. 



Agricultural chemistry teaches us that, to 

 employ the stable-dung to the best purpose, 



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