Carrion Beetles 223 



theless if 3'ou are making a collection of beetles 

 it will not do to be too squeamish, besides which the 

 carrion beetles look quite attractive in a cabinet. 



We do not know positively how the carrion 

 beetles find the dead animals, but it is supposed to 

 be by the sense of smell. If this is true, they are 

 much more expert than the carrion flies. If the 

 cook is boiling cabbage, the blue-bottle flies w^ill 

 mistake the odor of the succulent vegetable for 

 something much more disagreeable and offensive, 

 and the flies will fill the kitchen with their buzzing 

 bodies unless the screens are kept down. 



Of course I do not mean literally fill the 

 kitchen; to be more guarded in my statement it 

 may be well to say that a great many will find their 

 way into the kitchen to the annoyance of the house- 

 keeper. 



Out in the woods of Pike County, Pennsyl- 

 vania, high in that mountainous country, I have a 

 log house; log houses have many cracks and crev- 

 ices through which small creatures may creep; 

 when we cook cabbage in the log house, no sooner 

 does it begin to boil and the perfume pervade the 

 air, than the blue-bottle flies begin to appear. 

 Although there are no flies anywhere in sight when 



