SCIE \> h. GOSSIP. 



I T I S II DUMB] I DORS. 



By E. J. B opp, F.E.S 



'"I'M II 1 i i ill , well-known 



throughoul < Ireal Britain as tl : 'nig t.> 



the- genus i ral kinds being popu- 



larly designated " Dumble-dors " j foi although one 



or two "i the spi local in their 



occurrence, the genus is as a whole widelj and 



llj distributed ovei the length and breadth of 



im Lowestoft in the cast, to thi mo l 



In the Munich i ban six th 



" ' i d, and since its publi 



i thousands have been added to the list. To 

 this group belong the " I I 

 robu i insi cts allied to the • hafers, 



Qtlj attain to a length ol five ini 

 well as tin elephanl beetles of South America, and 

 othei gi mts ol the race. 



British [>ok-I?kktli-:s. 



\.—Geolrufts typlmein male). i.-G. tyfhaeus (female). \.-~C. spiniger 



(underside, showing smooth, bar;-, longitudinal space). 4.— (','. sttrcoranus. 



&'—G. mutator. 6.— o'. sykraticus. y.—C. vernalis. 



: rts Ireland, and from Dunnel Head, in 

 Caithness, to 1 > irsel shire. 



These beetles belong to the Scarabaeidae, one of 

 the two families, into which for convenience, the 

 Lamellicornia or "chafers" are divided. They form 

 a group, perhaps the best defined, and one of the 

 mosl widely known of the coleoptera, constituting as 

 it does not only a division numerically important, 

 out containing within its ranks many of the largest 

 IOSI prominent members of the insecta, as well 

 as some of the mosl beautiful and destructive beetles. 



The name Scarabaeidae will, perhaps, be more 

 familiar to most of us in connection with the 

 Scarabaeus or " Sacred Beetle " (Ateuchus sacer) of 

 the Egyptians, representations of which abound on 

 many of their works of a bygone age. Scarabaei 

 figure, in (act, amongst the very earliest examples of 

 engraving on stone, having been regarded by the 

 ancient Egyptians as symbolical of Pthah the 

 Creative 1'ower, and I'hrah the Sun. The Phoenicians 

 and Etruscans also carved them on sard, onyx, and 

 Othei varieties of chalcedony. From chariots and 



J vs.. ... . No. 68, Vol. \ I. 



