The Dor or “ shard-borne Beetle” of our immortal Bare!, 
whose evening flight is considered to presage a fine day, and 
whose loud and harsh hum must be familiar to every one, is the 
type of our genus. These beetles are found from March to 
the end of September ; they live in dung during the day, and 
burrow beneath it to a great depth for the sake of depositing 
their eggs ; surrounding them, Mr. Kirby informs us, “ by a 
mass of dung in which they have previously enveloped them ; 
thus not only dispersing the dung, but actually burying it at the 
roots of the adjoining plants, and by these means contributing 
considerably to the fertility of our pastures, supplying the con- 
stant waste by an annual conveyance of fresh dung laid at the 
very root ; by these canals also, affording a convenient pas- 
sage for a portion of it when dissolved to be carried thither 
by the rain.” Their upper sides vary from black to the richest 
green, copper and dark blue, and the violet and chalybeous 
tints of their undersides are perhaps without a rival in nature. 
Britain is rich in the variety and abundance of these insects; 
and the following are our native species. 
1. S. stercorarius Linn. — Don. 8. 2 64?. 3. — Panz. 49. 1. 
spiniger Marsh, mas.— Sowerby Brit. Mis. tab. 35. 1. 
puncticollis Sam. var. 
foveatus Marsh, var. — Sow. Brit. Mis. tab. 35. 2. 
mutator Marsh, var. — politus Sam. 
2. niger Marsh. 
3. sylvaticus Fab. — Don. 16. 547. 2. — Panz. 49. 3.— The 
beginning of June I found this insect in abundance 
on the mountains near Ambleside; all the specimens 
were dull and black. 
4o lsevis Haw. — Curtis Brit . Ent. pi. 266. The end of 
August, near Lyndhurst. 
5. vernalis Linn. — Don. 16. 547. 1. — Panz. 49. 2. — 
Heaths and sandy places in the spring, and I have 
taken it near Godstone in Surrey, and Lyndhurst 
in the New Forest in August. 
The plant is Ervum hirsutum (Hairy Tare). 
