Note 5 — Chapter ii · THE SPOTTED LARINUS

This stercoral method proves once more that necessity is the mother of invention. To build a luxurious palace with one’s ordure is a most meritorious device. Only an insect would be capable of it. For that matter, the Larinus has no monopoly of this architectural style, which is not described in Vitruvius,5 Many other larvæ, better-furnished with building-materials—those of the Onites, the Onthophagi,6 the Cetoniæ,7 for example—greatly excel it in the beauty of their excremental edifices.