260 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 
some shelter themselves under an umbrella formed of 
their own excrement! You will exclaim, perhaps, that 
there is no parallel case in all nature;—it may be so ;— 
yet as I am bound to confess the faults of insects as well 
as to extol their virtues, I must not conceal from you this 
opprobrium. Beetles of three different genera are given 
to this Hottentot habit. The first to which I shall intro- 
duce you is one that has long been celebrated under the 
name of the beetle of the lily (Lema merdigera, ¥'., Can- 
taride de’ Gigli, Vallisn.). The larvee of this insect have 
a very tender skin, which appears to require some cover- 
ing from the impressions of the external air and from the 
rays of the sun; and it finds nothing so well adapted to 
answer these purposes, and probably also to conceal it- 
self from the birds, as its own excrement, with which it 
covers itself in the following manner. Its anus is remark- 
ably situated, being on the back of the last segment of 
the body, and not at or under its extremity, as obtains in 
most insects. By means of such a position, the excre- 
ment when it issues from the body, instead of being pushed 
away and falling, is lifted up above the back in the di- 
rection of the head. When entirely clear of the passage, 
it falls, and is retained, though slightly, by its viscosity. 
The grub next, by a movement of its segments, conducts 
it from the place where it fell to the vicinity of the head. 
It effects this by swelling the segment on which the ex- 
crement is deposited, and contracting the following one, 
so that it necessarily moves that way. Although, when 
discharged, it has a longitudinal direction, by the same 
action of the segments the animal contrives to place every 
grain transversely. Thus, when laid quite bare, it will 
