94 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
British type is the common Dor Beetle ( Geotrupes vulgaris ), 
sometimes called the Watchman, or Clock, whose heavy hum 
drones upon the ear in the evening, as the 
‘ Beetle wheels his drowsy flight,’ 
and whose hard and notched head occasionally strikes against 
the face with a violence less agreeable to the man than to the 
insect, the latter being quite undisturbed by the shock. 
Let us watch this beautiful insect, as it wheels through the 
air. Either by the development of the sense of smell, or by 
some sixth sense with which humanity is practically unac- 
quainted, the beetle is made aware that the object of its search 
is at hand. The dull, monotonous buzz is immediately ex- 
changed for a triumphant hum, the circling flight ceases, and 
the beetle darts through the air, with arrow-like rapidity, to 
the spot which it seeks. A few more circles, lessening at 
every round, and down it settles, on an object uninviting to 
Europeans, but in great favour with Hindoos, Kaffirs, and 
scarabaei, namely, a patch of cow-dung. 
No sooner has it settled, than it dives downwards until it 
reaches the earth, and then bores a perpendicular hole, some 
eight inches in depth, and large enough to admit a man’s 
finger. Having ascended to the surface, it carries a quantity 
of the cow-dung to the bottom of the burrow, deposits an egg, 
and ascends, repeating this process as long as its powers 
endure. There are several other British beetles which prepare 
the cradle for their offspring in a similar manner. 
Merely to dig a hole, to place at the bottom of it the food 
which the young are intended to eat, and to fill it in with 
earth, is a process of great simplicity, and makes but few calls 
on the industry or ingenuity of the labourer. Some allied 
beetles there are, however, which feed their young on similar 
substances, and in like manner bury them in the earth, but 
which exercise extraordinary industry in the performance of 
the task. All the world has heard of the famous Scarab^eus 
of the Egyptians (Scarabceus sacer ), an insect which is found in 
many parts of the globe, and very much resembles the Dor 
