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Not one fails in obeying those two laws, the safety of the egg and ready ventilation; not one, not even the next on my list, whose talent opens up a new horizon: I am now speaking of Lacordaire's Gromphas. On the contrary, it is, like the last, an elegant Dung-beetle, dark-bronze, thickset, square-shaped like our Bison Onitis and almost as large.
This view will at first appear extremely improbable; but we shall hereafter find with many animals standing much higher in the scale, namely fishes, amphibians, reptiles and birds, that various kinds of crests, knobs, horns and combs have been developed apparently for this sole purpose. Onitis furcifer, male viewed from beneath. Onitis furcifer. Left-hand figure, male, viewed laterally.
Onitis seems to be quite wanting in America: all the specimens, in this part of the world, that have been placed in that class, belong partly to the Phanæus, and partly to the Eurysternus Dalm. a remarkable species of the genus Ateuchus. The Ateuchi are not less numerous in South America than in Africa; and here is found what may be looked upon as the intermediate link between Copris and Onitis.
Both carry on the forehead two spikes which form a trusty digging-implement and also a scalpel for dissecting. The insect's squat, sturdy, four-cornered build resembles that of Onitis Olivieri, one of the rarities of the neighbourhood of Montpellier.
Onitis furcifer, processes of anterior femora of the male, and on the head and thorax of the female. Onthophagus. Onthophagus rangifer, sexual differences of; variations in the horns of the male. Ophidia, sexual differences of. Ophidium. Opossum, wide range of, in America. Optic nerve, atrophy of the, caused by destruction of the eye.
The material is carefully packed and fills the bottom of the cavity, just as a soft paste would do when pressed down in a mould. Until now the work is similar to that of the Bison Onitis; but the resemblance goes no farther and is replaced by profound and curious differences, having no connection with what the Dung-beetles of our own parts show us.
If similarity of shape implied purity of work, we ought unhesitatingly to attribute to Phanæus Milon short, thick puddings like those made by Olivier's Onitis. Alas, structure is a bad guide where instinct is concerned! The square-chined, short-legged Dung-beetle excels in the art of manufacturing gourds.
At the smaller end is the egg, in a chamber with a very porous roof, to allow the air to enter. The little undertaker has something better to show than her double sausage. Like the Bison Onitis, the Sisyphus and the Lunary Copris, she enjoys the collaboration of the father. Each burrow contains several cradles, with the father and mother invariably present. What are the two inseparables doing?
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