THE SCARAB^US. 67 



north of Staffordshire, where cow's shard is the 

 word generally used for cow-dung." But it is not so 

 likely that Shakspeare was acquainted with the 

 stercoraceous nidus of the insect, as that he observed 

 the peculiarity of its flight, assisted by its expanded 

 elytra ; and if the word at the time he lived had both 

 meanings, I hope you will acknowledge the one I 

 have given to be the more probable. Should you, 

 however, feel disposed to enter more fully into a 

 question of the kind, I would refer you to a long 

 and very interesting note published in the Zoological 

 Journal, No. xviii. p. 147. 



The dor, or blind beetle {Geotrupes stercorarius), 

 belongs to the Linnsean genus Scarabceus. The 

 antennae are composed of several little plates strung 

 together at one edge ; these, when the insect reposes, 

 are closely applied to each other, but they diverge 

 when it moves, and thus expose the papillary surface 

 to the air. It belongs to one of the numerous tribes 

 of insects which feed on organized matter in a state 

 of decay, and thus assist in preserving the general 

 salubrity of the eaith. From their mode of life 

 the word " saprophaga," signifying literally, as you 

 know, " devourers of filth," has become the name 

 by which the family is distinguished. Mr. MacLeay, 

 so weU known among modern naturahsts as the 

 proposer of the quinary system of classification, 



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