LAND SCAVENGER-BEETLES. 



57 



Family VII. SILPIIID.E. 



This fiimily is founded upon tlio preuus Silpha, a name originally fi^ivon 

 by the Greeks to some kind of f(etid beetle, and ai)i)ropiiated by Lin- 

 nreus to the leading genus of the present family. These insects are 



[Fig. 18.] 



SlLl-HA IX.i;iiUAU6, Fill) : — ^1 1 



size ; /, .7. h, niaiulible, lalu ' 

 Vii ; t, j. anal pnu'es-s ami . • 

 of the latrral proccs.ses ii' 

 imjia ; e, .same, natural ' / 

 same; c, beetle; k, antMio" 

 Iviley. 



most readily distinfjuished from 

 the other Kecrophaga by their 

 large size. The species of Silplia 

 are usually half an inch and uj)- 

 wards in length, whilst some of 

 the burying beetles, composing 

 the genus ]Srecroi)horus, are an 

 inch and a half. The other len<l- 

 ing characters are the orbicular 

 ani.\ natural or rouudcd tliorax, very thin all 



'., .lud ?";ixilla of lar- 



:ni. ofsaiue: in, ow arouud at the margin, aiul sHghtly 



hii;lilv niasiiifiefl ; h. n 



; I. ^ai process of overlapping the base of the ely- 



tar.'.u-i of same — after 



tra. The club of the antennir is 

 perfoliate and 4 or 5j»'iuted. The hind trochanters are also prom- 

 inent, especially in Kecrophorus ; but they are not swolen or sub-globu- 

 lar, as Ihey are in the land prcdaceoiis beetles. The Silphii?, in com- 

 pany ^Yith their lar\ le, are found on dead and putrid animals.* The 

 Kecrophori have the curious instinct to deposit their eggs in small dead 

 animals or fragments of putrid flesh, and then bury them in the ground 

 several inches, and sometimes nearly a foot in depth. Thelarva* hatch- 

 ing from these eggs feed upon the decayed tlesh, and, it is said, devour 

 even the bones of small animals. 



There is a small group of dusky or blackisii beetles belonging to the 

 genera Catops and Colon, which are less than a quarter of an inch in 

 length, which are usually classed with the Silphidie, and consequently 

 form an exception to the majority of the family with respect to size. 



Fifty-five North American species have been described. 



The three leading or typical genera may be thus described : 



A. Antenna^ capitate ; head large anil free. Largo thick bodied insects ; color black, elytra spotted 



•with red(li.s!i -yellow Necuoimiokis. 



A A. Antenna* clavatc and perfoliate; head small; size medium; body broad and datteuod ; 



color black : thorax in many niarguicd with yellow Sll.i'llA. 



AAA. Antenna' .suhclavate; head partly iuiuierscd in the thorax; size small; form o>ate; color 

 black or brown Catoi'S. 



* A remarkable exception to the asual habits of this family, occurs in the case of a small European 

 species, (Silpha opaoa, Linn.) the larva' of which have been known to feed, to an injurious extent, upon 

 the leaves of the beet and the mangel-wurzel. Curtis' Farm Ia«ects, p 368. 



~8 



