LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
167 
processes in all degrees of development from the 
size I have mentioned^ down to projections so slight 
as to be scarcely perceptible above the general sur- 
face, so that the difference is not wholly sexual. 
ORYCTES MAIMON. 
This insect has just astonished me by a proof 
of its vast strength of body. Everyone who has 
taken the common dorr in his hand knows that its 
limbs, if not remarkable for agility, are very power- 
ful, but I was not prepared for so Samsonian a feat 
as I have just witnessed. When the insect was 
brought to me, having no box immediately at 
hand, I was at a loss where to put it until I could 
kill it : but a quart bottle full of milk being on the 
table, I clapped the beetle, for the present, under 
that, the hollow at the bottom allowing him room 
to stand upright. Presently, to my surprise, the 
bottle began slowly to move, and glide along the 
smooth table, propelled by the muscular power of 
the imprisoned insect, and continued for some time 
