92 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
delights to settle upon banks with a southern aspect, and to 
run about upon soil that has been rendered so hot by the sun 
that the bare hand can hardly endure contact with its surface. 
The larvae are most remarkable beings. They are whitish 
in colour, and strangely moulded in form, the head being of 
enormous size, and of a horny consistency, and the eighth seg- 
ment developed into a hump-like projection, carrying upon its 
upper surface a pair of bent hooks. The larva never is seen 
above the surface of the ground, and, indeed, never exhibits 
more than the smooth horny head and mandibles. It lives in 
perpendicular burrows, about a foot in depth, which it is able 
to traverse with great rapidity, and which are only just of suffi- > 
cient diameter to permit the inhabitant to pass up and down. 
It is a carnivorous being, feeding chiefly on insects, which it 
is able to capture, in spite of the apparent disadvantage under 
which it labours of being confined to one spot. The mode by 
which it obtains its daily food is as follows. Ascending to the 
upper portion of its burrow, it fixes itself firmly by means of its 
hooks, and then lays its jaws level with the soil. While in this 
attitude, it is almost invisible, and as soon as an insect passes i 
by the ambushed larva, the sickle-like jaws grasp it, and it is 
dragged to the bottom of the tunnel, where it is devoured. 
The burrow is made by the larva, and not by the parent, and i 
is a work of some little time, the earth being loosened by means 
of the feet and jaws, and then carried to the surface on the 
flattened head. 
Other beetles are in the habit of driving deep tunnels into 
the ground, wherein may be deposited the eggs which are des- 
tined to produce a fresh brood in the ensuing season. Our own 
country can boast of possessing many such beetles, but in the 
hotter parts of the world their number is quite wonderful. 
Our first example will be the well-known Sexton, or Bury- 
ing Beetles. There are several species of Burying Beetles ; 
but as their habits are very similar, they need not be separately j| 
described. Anyone who wishes to see them at work may do 
so by taking a dead mouse, bird, or piece of meat, and laying 
