Note 25 — PETER KALM’s TRAVELS. (continued 2)

March the 28th. I found a black beetle25 (Scarabæus) with a pentagonal oval Clypeus or shield, on the head a short blunt horn, and a gibbous, or hump-backed Thorax, or Corselet. This beetle is one of the bigger sort here. I found here and there holes on the hills, which were so wide that I could put my finger into them. On digging them up I always found these beetles lying at the bottom, about five inches under ground. Sometimes there were short whitish worms, about as thick as one’s finger, which lay with the beetles; and perhaps they were related to them. There were likewise other insects in such holes, as, a black cricket (Gryllus campestris)? spiders, earth-beetles (Carabi), and others. This beetle had a scent exactly like the Trifolium melilotus cærulea, or the blue melilot. It was entirely covered with oblong pale ticks (Acari). Its feet were as strong as those of the common Dung-chaffer (Scarabæus stercorarius).