64 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



few of tliera, for they bore into those bodies and con- 

 ceal themselves in them, devouring their decayed parts, 

 and depositing their eggs in them. Those who will 

 dare encounter fetid exhalations and will take the 

 trouble to examine the putrid cadavers of horses or 

 cows, or any other dead animal that is left exposed to 

 the air, will find a very large company of Carrion- 

 beetles, of different genera and species, in a variety of 

 different uniforms ; some looking like martial officers, 

 ornamented with one or two golden epaulettes ; others, 

 like chamberlains of a despotic sovereign, ornamented 

 with a golden royal chamber-key on their side ; others 

 in ordinary working dress, and altogether quite respect- 

 able and corpulent in their appearance, because they, 

 like the persons they so much resemble, live also on the 

 fat of their fellow-creatures. 



Now, the greatest part of these Beetles, as I have 

 already mentioned, are very beneficial to man, by con- 

 suming carrion and all decomposing substances. But 

 there is one particular genus of them against which the 

 naturalist always makes war, notwithstanding it is not 

 larger than two-thirds of a line. This small Insect is 

 called the Cabinet-beetle (Anthrenus Musa^oruin), and 

 is of a dark brown colour, covered Avith gray scales 

 forming three stripes across the wing-covers. If these 

 scales are wiped off, the Insect appears black, and loses 

 its specific character. 



