50 [March, 



Turning to the other Orders of insects, four kinds of Hetehoptera have been 

 secured: — Tropica ri^ ritjipes on a suspended sparrow-hawk in the middle of 

 August, Acanthoftoma hxmorrhoidafe and A. inlerstinetum in a crow's head towards 

 the end of April, and Derephysia foliacea in a rabbit early in August. Lepidoptera 

 are represented by a single Tinea tapetzella, beaten from a suspended mole, whose 

 fur perhaps it fancied, towards the end of September. The only Neueopteron is 

 Cwcilius pedicularius in plenty from a calf in the same month (cf. Ent. Mo. Mag., 

 1899, p. 273). DiPTERA are far less commonly noticed than the mass of their larvae 

 in the carrion would warrant ; I have only taken one Borhorus nitidus in a crow in 

 March, a dead Hyetodesia sp. in dog in April, one Borhorus pedestris in the 

 skeleton of another in April ; an undetermined species of Oscinis commonly on a 

 dog in June, and two more of the same genus on a suspended jay in April ; a pair 

 of Blepharoptera ruficauda in cop. in a suspended jay in the middle of April and 

 three others (all dead) in a suspended hawk during the same month, together with 

 Themira putris, ? , and two small Ephydridse. Of those flies whose larvae so 

 beneficially consume carrion, I have taken a single Calliphora erythrocephala and 

 Sydrotsea irritans, J , on a pigeon early in May ; and once at Lyndliurst found a 

 Psychoda swarming about a cow's head in a ditch. Few Hymenoptera are found 

 in carrion ; the commonest is a Braconid, Alysia manducator, which is parasitic 

 upon both the Dipterous and Coleopterous larva? {cf. Marshall, Braeon. d'Europ., 

 ii, 377) ; I first took it on a foal at Brockenhurst in May and subsequently on a 

 rabbit in June, also on a horse's shin bone and a cow's head in the same month. An 

 Ichneumonid, Atractodes bicolor, which may be hyperparasitic on the last species 

 {ef. Morley, Ichn. Brit., i, 291 ct ii) was taken in a rabbit in September, 1895, in a 

 oow's head at Lyndliurst in August and in a mole in June ; its cousin, A. gilvipest 

 was once found in a rabbit eai'ly in June, 1903. A second kind of Braconid 

 (? Rhogas sp.) was taken in the same kind of animal at the end of September, 

 1899 ; and a third, 3Ieteorus filator, in a rabbit in November. I have once or 

 twice noticed wasps (J'espa vulgaris) attracted to fish, and upon one occasion took 

 four specimens of some Proctotrypid from a rabbit early in November. 



All the above insects were taken, unless otherwise stated, in Suffolk, and it 

 would be interesting to put upon record similar experiences of collectors in other 

 parts of the country ; in fact, one's own observations are far too meagre to form 

 the basis of many facts, though it will, I think, be seen from tlie following table 

 that the various classes into which I have divided the beetles are ]-)retty evenly 

 distributed, and the fourth of them by being bisected will show approximately the 

 condition in which the carrion was found. Moreover it will be seen from what 

 I have said that no beetle appears to have the least preference for any particular 

 carcase, though the birds seem rather more attractive than the mammals (compare 

 crow and rat in the table). It is necessary to add that I have paid not the least 

 especial attention to the subject, though, like every collector, 1 never pass carrion 

 without at least a casual inv(>stigation of its tenants. 



