More Beetles 



ter the liquidators. To purge the soil 

 swiftly of life's offal, the scavenging maggot 

 multiplies its legions; then, having itself be- 

 come a peril by reason of its numbers, it dis- 

 appears, exterminated, when its cleansing 

 task is done. 



In my district, I obtain nine species of 

 Saprini, some found under carrion, others 

 under dung. I give their names in a foot- 

 note.^ The first four species hasten to my 

 earthenware pans, but the most numerous 

 and most assiduous, those on whom the bulk 

 of the work falls, are S. subnitidus and S. 

 detersiis. They arrive as early as April, at 

 the same time as the Luciliae, whose off- 

 spring they ravage with the same zeal as 

 that of the Grey Fly. Both of them abound 

 in my charnel-pits until the torrid sun of the 

 dog-days puts an end to the invasion of the 

 Flies by drying up the exposed carrion too 

 quickly. They reappear in September, with 

 the first cool breezes of autumn. 



Flesh or fish, fur, feather or reptile, every- 

 thing suits them because it also attracts the 



1 Under carrion: S. subnitidus, de Mars; S. detersus 

 ILLIG.: S. maculatus, Ros.: S. aneus, Fab. — Author's Note. 



Under dung: S. speculifer, Latr. : S. mrescens, Payk. : 

 S. metallescens, Erich: S. furvus, Erich: S. rotundatus, 

 ILLIG. — Author's Note. 



40 



