THE ELEPHANT-BEETLE. 
345 
earth, where they lie till the approach of spring ; when the 
eggs are hatched, the nest bursts, anti the insects find their 
way out of the earth. They assist each other, witli indefa- 
tigable industry, in rolling these globular pellets to the place 
where they are to be buried. This they are to perform with 
the tail foremost, by raising up their hinder part, and shoving 
along the ball with their hind feet. They are always ac- 
companied with other beetles of a larger size, and of a more 
elegant structure and colour. The breast of this is covered 
with a shield of a crimson colour, and shining like metal ; 
the head is of the like colour mixed with green, and on 
the crown of the head stands a shining black horn, bended 
backwards. These are called the kings of the beetles; but 
for what reason is uncertain, since they partake of the same 
dirty drudgery with the rest. 
The elephant-beetle is the largest of this kind hitherto 
known, and is found in South America, particularly Guiana 
and Surinam, as well as about the river Oroonoko. It is of 
a black colour, and the whole body is covered with a very 
hard shell, full as thick and as strong as that of a small crab. 
Its length, from the hinder part of the eyes, is almost four 
inches, and from the same part to the end of the proboscis, 
or trunk, four inches and three quarters. The transverse dia- 
meter of the body is two inches and a quarter, and the breadth 
of each elytron, or case for the wings, is an inch and three- 
tenths. The antennae, or feelers, are quite horny ; for which 
reason the proboscis, or trunk, is moveable at its insertion into 
the head, and seems to supply the place of feelers. The horns 
are eight-tenths of an inch long, and terminate in points. 
The proboscis is an inch and a quarter long, and turns up- 
wards, making a crooked line, terminating in two horns, 
each of which is near a quarter of an inch long ; but they are 
not perforated at the end like the proboscis of other insects. 
About four tenths of an inch above the head, on that side 
next the body, is a prominence, or small horn, which, if the 
rest of the trunk were away, would cause this part to resem- 
ble the horn of a rhinoceros. There is indeed a beetle so 
called, but then the horns or trunk has no fork at the end, 
though the lower horns resemble this. The feet are all forked 
at the end, but not like the lobster’s claws. 
To this class we may also refer the glow-worm, that little 
animal which makes such a distinguished figure in the de- 
scription of our poets. No two insects can differ more than 
the male and female of this species from each other. The 
male is in every respect a beetle, having cases to its wings, 
and rising in the air at pleasure ; the female, on the contrary, 
Vol. II. 2 x 
