CHAPTER I. THE SACRED BEETLE 1 II. THE SACRED BEETLE: THE PEAR 18 III. THE SACRED BEETLE: THE MODELLING 32 IV. THE SACRED BEETLE: THE GRUB, THE METAMORPHOSIS, THE HATCHING CHAMBER 42 V. THE SPANISH COPRIS 63 VI. THE ONTHOPHAGI 79 VII. A BARREN PROMISE 88 VIII. A DUNG BEETLE OF THE PAMPAS 99 IX. THE GEOTRUPES: THE PUBLIC HEALTH 113 X. THE MINOTAURUS TYPHŒUS 127 XI. THE TWO BANDED SCOLIA 143 XII. THE RINGED CALICURGUS 157 XIII. THE OLD WEEVILS 171 XIV. LEAF ROLLERS 184 XV. THE HALICTI 199 XVI. THE HALICTI: THE PORTRESS 210 XVII. THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION 223 XVIII. THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION: THE FAMILY 243 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PLATE I.—1. The Sacred Beetle. 2. The Sacred Beetle rolling his pill. 3. Rolling the pill to the eating burrow Frontispiece PLATE II.—Burrow and pear-shaped ball of the Sacred Beetle facing 20 Fig. 1.—Section of the Sacred Beetle’s pill, showing the egg and the hatching-chamber 24 PLATE III.—1. The Sacred Beetle pushing away and overturning a thieving friend who tries to force his assistance upon him. 2. Crypt in which the Beetle shapes a grub’s provision into a pear facing 36 Fig. 2.—The Sacred Beetle’s pill dug out cupwise to receive the egg 39 Fig. 3.—Grub of the Sacred Beetle 46 Fig. 4.—Digestive apparatus of the Sacred Beetle 47 PLATE IV.—1 and 2. The Spanish Copris, male and female. 3. The pair jointly kneading the big load, which, divided into egg- shaped pills, will furnish provisions for each grub of the brood. 4. The mother alone in her burrow: five pills are already finished; a sixth is in process of construction facing 72 Fig. 5.—The Copris’s pill: first state 72 Fig. 6.—The Spanish Copris’s pill dug out cupwise to receive the egg 73 Fig. 7.—The Spanish Copris’s pill: section showing the hatching- chamber and the egg 73 Fig.