DUNG-EEETLE. 249 



In the summer of 18'26, we foimd on Putney heatli, 

 in Surrey, four of these beetles, hard at work in bury- 

 ing a dead crow, precisely in the manner described 

 by M. Gleditsch.* 



Dung-Beetle. 



A still more common British insect, the Dorr, 

 Clock, or Dung Beetle (Geotrupes stcrcorarius), uses 

 difTerent materials for burying along with its eggs. 

 " It digs," to use the words of Kirby and Spence, 

 " a deep cylindrical hole, and carrying down a mass 

 of the dung to the bottom, in it deposits its eggs. 

 And many of the species of the genus Jlteuchus roll 

 together wet dung into round pellets, deposit an egg 

 in the midst of each, and when dry push them back- 

 wards, by their liind feet, to holes of the surprising 

 depth of three feet, which they have previously dug 

 for their reception, and which are often several yards 

 distant. The attention of these insects to their eggs 

 is so remarkable, that it was observed in the earliest 

 ages, and is iTientioned by ancient writers, but with 

 the addition of many fables, as that they were all of 

 the male sex; that they became young again every 

 year; and that they rolled the pellets containing then- 

 eggs from sunrise to sunset every day, for twenty- 

 eight days without intermission."']" 



" We frequently notice in our evening walks," sayg 

 Mr Knapp, " the murmuring passage, and are often 

 stricken by the heedless flight, of the great dorr- 

 beetle {Gcotrupes stercorarius) , clocks, as the boys 

 call them. But this evening my attention was called 

 to them in particular, by the constant passing of such 

 a number as to constitute something Hke a little 

 stream; and I was led to search into the object of 

 their direct flight, as in general it is irregular and 



"» J R. f Jlouffet, 153. Kirby and Spcn^e, ii. 350. 



