158 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



ball, seems almost incredible. The beetle belongs to the genus 

 Copris. There is the cocoon of another species of Copris, but 

 iu this case, the walls are very thin, and the entire ball would 

 go into the hollow of that which has just been described. A 

 British beetle, Geotrupes vemalis, also makes a cocoon about the 

 size of that which has just been mentioned. It is made of mixed 

 clay and cow-dung, and specimens may be seen in the Museum. 



Perhaps the most extraordinary of these cocoons is that which 

 is represented in the illustration. This is made by one of the 

 gigantic beetles of the tropics. The insect which made it has 

 no English name, but is scientifically called Goliathus Drurii. 

 This wonderful cocoon is as large as a swan's egg, and, as may 

 be seen by reference to the illustration, has very thin walls in 

 proportion to its size. It is strengthened by a remarkable belt, 

 which runs around its centre, exactly like that of the bullet which 

 is used for the two-grooved rifle. How the belt is formed is per- 

 fectly unknown, as is its use, unless the strengthening of the 

 walls be its only object. I have carefully examined the cocoon 

 itself, and specimens of the insect which made it, and can find 

 nothing which afibrds the least clue to the difficulty. 



There is no doubt as to the species of insect which made it, 

 for the creature lies inside, a small portion of the ends of the 

 elytra and part of one leg being visible through the fracture. 

 The colour of the beetle is peculiarly beautiful, being rich dark 

 chocolate, soft and deep as made of velvet, and upon the thorax 

 and round the elytra are drawn broad streaks of creamy white. 

 On account of the large dimensions of the cocoon, it has neces- 

 sarily been reduced in size, but a common house-fly is introduced 

 into the drawing, in order to show the comparative size of the 

 cocoon and the insect. 



Many of the Oithopterous insects are burrowers, either digging 

 holes wherein they themselves reside, or preparing a subterranean 

 habitation for their young. 



The best-known and most important of these insects is the 

 Mole Ckicket {Gryllotalpa vulgaris), called in some places the 

 Croaker, or Chxjer-woem, on account of the peculiar sound 

 which it produces. It is a truly wonderful insect, one of those 

 beings, which for the sake of force, we may perhaps call the 

 anomalies of nature, though, in fact, nature is perfectly harmonious, 



