TCD MS 10515 folio 90 recto
compare with the incredible numbers of these insects and so amazing a profusion of fertility. One thinks of the stars in the heavens or the sands in the sea shore, but any attempt to concieve so vast a multitude overwhelms human imagination. How immense a part must these devastating swarms play in the general scheme of things as they devour and are devoured! No creature can occupy a larger place in the complex web of desert life.
Scarab beetle.
Another common insect that soon attracts attention in the open desert is a large species of Dung Rolling Beetle. (Spec. *No. 12. Scarebus Scacer.) Everywhere they dug their tunnels in the sand but seemed to have a special predeliction for the deep Turkish trenches which a stubborn enemy had once held with
* Probably Scarebus scacer – B. N. H. S.