OR CARRION BEETLES. 89 



Disgusting as the habits and mode of life of these 

 carrion-eating beetles may be to our refined senses, 

 there is no doubt that, like the equally filthy Vultures 

 of hot climates, they serve a most important purpose 

 in the oeconomy of nature by rapidly removing masses 

 of putrescent matter, which, if left to disappear by 

 the slow process of decay, would contaminate the air 

 to a fearful extent. Unseen these little scavengers 

 perform their duties; there is no fuss about their 

 operations, their senses soon tell them that a nuisance 

 is to be removed, and they hasten at once to the 

 scene of action, animated by the prospect of an abun- 

 dant repast. Thus it must be confessed that intense 

 selfishness is at the bottom of their proceedings, but 

 this is always the case in the arrangements of nature, 

 - — the special interests of one creature are made to 

 condutie to the well-being of the whole. 



The most characteristic examples of this group are 

 to be sought in the genus Silpha, of which several 

 species are very abundant in this country. These 

 insects possess the form of an oval shield, with a 

 gentle convexity of the upper surface; the head is 

 partially concealed beneath the front of the prothorax, 

 the limbs are well developed, and the antennae, which 

 are of moderate length, are gently thickened towards 

 the extremity. The species are generally of a black 

 colour, and can only be distinguished from each other 

 by rather minute diflPerences of form, and by variations 

 in the size and number of the punctures or impressed 

 dots on their surface. One British species, however, 

 the Silpha quadripunctata, an insect about half an 

 inch in length, has the whole upper surface of a dull 

 yellowish colour, with a large patch on the thorax, two 

 round spots on each elytron, and the scutellum black. 



