NECKLACE- BEETLE. 253 



lessened when, on taking one of them up, he dis- 

 covered that it was only a chafer that moved." 



We have often found the necklace-beetle (Carabus 

 monilis) inhabiting a chamber dug out in the earth 

 of a garden, just sufficient to contain its body, and 

 carefully smoothed and polished. From the form of 

 this little nest, it would seem as if it were constructed, 

 not by digging out the earth and removing it, but 

 chiefly by the insect pushing its body forcibly against 

 the walls. The beetles which we have found nestling 

 in this manner have been all males ; and therefore it 

 cannot be intended for a breeding cell; for male 

 insects are never, we believe, sufficiently generous 

 to their mates to assist them in such labours. The 

 beetle in question appears to be partial to celery 

 trenches ;* probably from the loose earth of which 

 they are composed yielding, without much difficulty, 

 to the pressure of its body. 



