COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 
191 
chafers, exhibit some very remarkable instincts in 
forming a proper nidus or receptacle for their eggs, 
and providing for the welfare of their progeny. This 
is witnessed to a certain extent in the common dor 
or clock ( Geotrupes stercorarius ) — an insect whose 
“ drowsy hum” falls so often on our ear during a 
walk in the country in the stillness of an autumnal 
twilight — which digs a cylindrical hole in the earth, 
often of considerable depth, and conveys a small 
quantity of dung to the bottom, in which she de- 
posits her eggs. But the habits of the group now 
under consideration, which is extensively diffused 
over Africa and the south of Europe, but has no 
representative in Britain, are greatly more fitted 
to attract attention. These insects, like our own 
Geotrupidce , or earth-borers, as the term signi- 
fies, likewise deposit their eggs in dung ; but each 
egg is placed in the centre of a small ball or pellet 
carefully prepared for this purpose. When the pel- 
let is dry, it has generally to be transported to a 
considerable distance, that it may be buried in a 
deep hole previously dug for its reception. To a 
creature so imperfectly provided with members that 
can be employed as instruments of prehension, the 
conveyance of an object of some size must obvi- 
ously be a task of considerable difficulty. Unable 
to raise the load from the ground, its only resource 
is to roll it along the surface ; but instead of using 
its head for this purpose, as some birds are said to 
do when obliged to remove their eggs from one 
