464 A DESCRIPTION OF 
The same insect is thus mentioned by Collins : 
Now the air is hushed, save 
Where the beetle winds 
His small but sullen horn, 
As oft he rises midst the twilight path 
Against the pilgrim borne. 
This beetle, which is a British insect, generally lays its 
eggs in a mass of cow-dung, which it afterwards buries 
in the earth. It makes a dull drowsy noise when it flies, 
and often strikes itself against any person or object it may 
meet, as though it were blind. It has also the habit of 
stretching out its limbs and pretending to be dead when 
caught. 
THE STAG BEETLE. (Lucanus cervus.) 
See the proud giant of the Beetle race ; 
What shining arms his polish'd limbs encase ! 
Like some stern warrior formidably bright, 
His steely sides reflect a gleamy light ; 
On his large forehead spreading horns he wears, 
And high in air the branching antlers bears : 
O'er many an inch extends his wide domain, 
And his rich treasury swells with hoarded grain. 
BARBAULD. 
THIS insect is the largest, and most singular in shape, of 
any in this country. It is known by two horn-like 
