228 NATURAL ARRANGEMENT OF INSECTS. 



lours will frequently rival any throughout the Coleoptera, 

 we are tempted to exclaim at the caprice of Nature, 

 which has clothed the inhabitants of such nauseous sub- 

 stances in such gay habiliments. It is a striking cir- 

 cumstance, and exhibits an anomalous condition of many 

 of this group as compared with the majority of the Co- 

 leoptera, that their males are dispossessed of anterior 

 tarsi ; but this deficiency is supplied by an elongation 

 of the tibia, which is curved at its extremity. The ob- 

 ject of the elongation of the posterior legs in these in- 

 sects is deduced from the observation of their habits; 

 whence we find that they use them to propel the balls 

 of dung, wherein they have deposited their egg, to the 

 receptacle they have formed for it ; and they thus pro- 

 pel it, walking backwards. Perty *, whose notice of the 

 habits of these insects is the most complete we possess, 

 informs us, that some species of Scarabceus frequent 

 ants' nests during the winter. Hyboma (if he be right 

 in the genus, which is somewhat doubtful) frequents 

 dung, is not fossorial, and rarely flies. The Coprobii 

 are found in fallen leaves, dung, and also frequenting 

 the exuding sap of wounded trees. The Eurysterni 

 are also not burrowers, but are active on the wing during 

 the day. The conformity of habit in genera is con- 

 firmed by the intertropical Coprides burrowing like our 

 native species. The Phancei are not very different in 

 habits to Copris, and fly during evening with a loud 

 noise and considerable velocity : they are extremely 

 abundant, even the largest species, the P. Principalis, 

 which is more than two inches long, and an inch and a 

 half broad. It must present an extraordinary appear- 

 ance to an European collector, to witness, for the first 

 time, the air and the earth, in intertropical regions, 

 teeming with their hosts of insects, and these large 

 Coprophagi sweeping through the sky with the velocity 

 we observe in our native species. Many of them are 

 diurnal flyers, but the majority, as here, are crepuscular, 



* Delectus Animalium Articulat. Pref. p. 7. &c. 



