SILPHA. 
51 
its eggs, and in order to their greater seeiirity, 
contrives to bury it under ground. Tliree or four 
insects, working in concert, have been known to 
drag under the surface the body of so large an 
animal as a Mole in the space of an hour, so that 
no trace of it has appeared above ground. The 
eggs deposited by the parent insects are white, 
and of an oval or rather subcylindric shape: from 
these are hatched the Larvae, which, when full- 
grown, are more than an inch in length, and of 
a yellowish-white colour, with a scaly orange- 
coloured shield or bar across the middle of each 
division of the body. Each of these larvae forms 
for itself an oval cell in the ground, in which it 
changes to a yellowish chrysalis, resembling that 
of a beetle; out of which, in the space of about 
eighteen days, proceeds the perfect insect. This 
species possesses a considerable degree of ele- 
gance, but generally diffuses a very strong and 
unpleasant smell : it flies with considerable 
strength and rapidity, and is generally seen on 
the Vv^ing during the hottest part of the day. In 
many parts of North America is found a variety, 
differing merely in size, being far larger than the 
European kind, and measuring an inch and half 
in length. 
The Silpha Gcnnanica of Linnmus so much re- 
sembles the S. Vespillo that it seems scarcely to 
differ except in colour, being entirely coal-black. 
It is found in similar situations with the preceding 
species. 
Several of the Silplue are of an entirely oval 
