INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 257 



three of these flies will devour a dead horse as quickly 

 as would a lion. 



As soon as the various tribes of Muscaa have opened 

 the way, and devoured the softer parts, a whole host 

 of beetles, Necrophori^ Silphce, Dermestes, CliolevcB, and 

 StapJii/Unidcey actively second their labours. Wasps 

 and hornets also come in for their portion of the spoil; 

 and even ants, which prowl every where, rival their 

 giant competitors in the quantity consumed by them ; 

 so that in no very long- time, especially in warm climates, 

 the muscular covering- is removed from the skeleton, 

 which is then cleansed from all remains of it by the lit- 

 tle Cori/netes ccerideus and n/Jicollis, (which last is so 

 interesting-, as having- been the means of saving- the life 

 of Latreille ^,) and several Nitidulce ^. Even the horns 

 of animals have an appropriate genus (Tro.r) which in- 

 habits them, and feeds upon their contents. And not 

 only are large animals thus disposed of, even the small- 

 est are not suffered long- to annoy us. The burying 

 beetle (Necrophorus Vespillo, F.) inters the bodies of 

 small animals, such as mice, several assisting- each 

 other in the work ; and those to which they commit their 

 eggs afford an ample supply of food to their larvae ". Ants 

 also in some degree emulate these burying insects, at 

 least they will carry off the carcases of insects into their 

 nests ; and I once saw some of the horse-ants dragging 



* See Latr. Gen. i. 275. 



'' This property in the carrion insects may be turned to agood'accoimt 

 by the comparative anatomist, who lias only to flay the body of one of the 

 smaller animals, anoint it with honey, and bury it in an ant hill ; and in 

 a short time he will obtain a perfect skeleton, dcnudated of every fibril 

 of muscle, though with the ligaments and cartilages untouched. 



•= Gleditsch Abhundbingcn, iii. 200. 

 VOL. I. S 



