SC/ENt /■. GOSSIP 



--/ 



i, although during the autumn, ii 



abroad, on nights 

 ■ I 1 hi t propitious, 

 rhe dumb! 

 well I now it, and w ith ption 



thai a very slum description will suffice. They arc 



robust, s etimes 



h in length and on 

 three qi an inch in girl It. I he thorax is 



i- -ii ill, espei iall) on the 



disc: the elytra ■ 01 less boldly striated, ["hi 



strong and adapted for digging rather than 



danism, the gail "l the dumble di > 



being both awkward and slow. For the size, its 



i i mous. Thi ' apparent to 



who tries to hold a beetle in the lightly 

 closed hand, 



many "i the chafers, thi of the 



i- "i .i dark and often unattractive hue. 



The undersides, which arc in many cases clothed with 



e, generally exhibit a bright metallic 



lustre partaking "i some shade ol blue, violet, gi 



■1IZC. 



Olivier asserts that no beetle can fly againsl the 

 wind, but although this may be the cum- with man* 

 coleopterous insects, th nl is certainly in- 



accurate as applied to the order as a whole, the 

 Cicindelidae and .ithcrs, as well as members ofthe 



il genus, having often been .'(■-curd to make 

 satisfactory head way against a fairly slifl breeze. The 

 flighl ofthe dor-beetle is strong and swift, but seldom 

 is thai "i the majoril \ ol the coleoptera. 

 Its course is in arcs or segments of circles like the 

 humble-bee, in which circumstance it is resembled b) 

 Anomalafrischii, a beetle closely allied to 

 chafer, whose flighl curves are, however, usually 

 longer. 



Notwithstanding that they occasionally occur in 

 decaying fungi and other substances, the Geotrupina 

 are usually dung-feeders both in the larvae and imago 

 forms. In the laiter state their scent is keen, as 

 behoves animals which have to seek their food in 

 various and scattered directions. I laving discovered 

 suitable food, the dumlile-dor alights on or near and 

 immediately commences to burrow beneath, thiswork 

 being generally performed by the female insect. II" a 



of cow-dung in a field be raised and the ground 

 examined beneath, it will probably be found riddled 

 with several clean-cut, almost perpendicular, borings 

 oi about half to three-quarters of an inch diameter, 

 and from eight or ten to perhaps ever eighteen inches 

 in depth, according to the nature ofthe soil and other 

 circumstances. These are the homes of the Geo 

 trupina. When the tunnel is complete dung is 

 conveyed from the surface above to the bottom of the 

 gallery, in which the female lays her eggs one egg 

 in each hole. In little more than a week the young 

 larva is hatched, and immediately commences t.» 

 feed upon the store provided. In appearanc 

 larvae are soft, unattractive liule grulis, curved aboul 

 the middle SO that their heads and " tails" approach 



one another. Tl 



. which 

 l.uter pari ird and con ■■! a 



brownish hue. H larder the 



grub may oh In i w..rt, il 

 and procun in i 



; itch assume the pupil 

 to the amoui nee store i nt, in 



il remains until read) a little Ii 

 emerge a perfeel !■■ 



ii, pari in 1 1' of the pn 



ii- kind, beside i " the oh -\ distant hum " 



during flighl members of this genus ha. 

 when ai res! ol producing a sharp shrill sound by 



iinj, the posterior femora againsi the 

 extremity "i the abdomen. This ability i" emil a 

 squeaking sound i-. shared also by I 

 allied beetle, with many coleopterous and other 

 insects. Dumeril (Trait. Elem. II. t 

 the noise made by certain ol the I to the 



biaying "i an ass, inn no well-conducted and self- 

 respecting dumble-dor has ever Keen guilty of thus 

 xpressing itself. 

 Befon pi ci din; der in detail our various 



nl Geotrupes, mention maybe made ol" t he- 

 fact, that the well provided retreats of the dor- 

 beetles are often taken other insects 

 in which to lay their eggs. Especially is this the case 

 with some ofthe smallei beetles ol the tribe Aphodiina, 

 Hcptanlactis testudinarius being sometimes found in 

 quantities at Femdown in Easi Dorset, and p 

 elsewhere, quite at the bottom of the burrows of 

 Geotrupes mutator (Enl. Mo. Mag. March, 189S). 

 Aphodius porcits is also said 10 frequent in like 

 manner the subterranean abi ide of 1 ithers of the genus. 

 1 To be continued. ) 



VESPA Ai STRIAI \ IN NORTHl M BER1 AMi. — This 

 year (1S99) between June 2 1st and July 3rd inclusive, 

 I captured, at Killingworth, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, 

 four fine females or queens of this cuckoo-wasp. They 

 were taken within a short distance of each other along 

 the same warm, dry, loose-soiled hedge hank with 

 southern aspect, as they flew along it, most probably 

 in search of the suitable nest of a host in which to 

 oviposit. All the spring and early summer the Rufous 

 Wasp ( Vespa 111 fa), which was by far the most 

 abundant wasp of the season, had flown along and 

 quartered inquisitively this same hedge bank, and it is 

 not at all improbable that one or more of this host- 

 wasp had founded a colony in the bank, as they were 

 Hying along it, though in fewer numbers, and had 

 begun to rasp fibres from my garden poles. I had. 

 though only for a short period before capturing the first 

 specimen of the Vespa austriaea Panz. , hc-en keeping a 

 look out for this parasitic species, as I thought that 

 since the last season's broods of the Vespa rttfa had 

 evidently been fairly numerous, and the hybernating 

 conditions obviously favourable to their conservation, 

 il was probable both these circumstances would have 

 acted in favour ofthe very closely allied inguiline, the 

 /'. austriaea, and that it, loo, might now be on the 

 wing in some numbers in search of a young colony of 

 its host to whom ihe rearing of its oflsprin 

 intrusted. 1 was not mistaken in the presence of this 



I 



