246 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ill- success as seems to have befallen many brethren of the net in 

 England. 



In conclusion I wish to point out that if any records are 

 available it would be very interesting to examine also what results 

 were found to follow the abnormal weather of 1B78 and 1879. 

 The summer of 1878, following a mild damp winter, was warm 

 and pretty sunny, while the succeeding winter of 1878-79 was like 

 that of 1879-80, exceedingly severe and cold ; whilst the summer 

 of 1879 was characterised by little sunshine and low temperature. 

 These characteristics seem to have been almost universal through- 

 out the United Kingdom, with only local exceptions. 



Sloperton Lodge, Kingstown, September, 1S82. 



NATURAL LOCALITIES OF BRITISH COLEOPTERA. 

 By Rev. W. W. Fowler, M.A., F.L.S. 

 No. IX.— DUNG, DEAD BIRDS AND ANIMALS. 



We now come to the most disagreeable part of Coleoptera 

 collecting ; and yet, unless a collector makes up his mind to 

 reconcile himself to it, he may as well give up collecting 

 altogether. It is well known how quickly dung, dead birds and 

 animals, and offal of all kinds, disappear if left to themselves ; 

 although a great part of the work of removing these is performed 

 by flies, yet the beetles take a great share in the accomplishment 

 of the useful work. The large Necrophori, or burying beetles, 

 are known to the most casual observers ; the whole of the Scara- 

 hceidce, which form the bulk of the Lamellicorns, the great 

 majority of the Staphi/linidcs, most of the Histeridce, all the 

 SilphidcB, very many of the Nitidulidce, Trichopterygidce, and other 

 groups are necrophagous, that is, feed on dead or decaying 

 animal matter. These beetles are the scavengers of Nature, and 

 we can better understand the reverence paid by the Egyptians to 

 their huge Scarahcei, of which we so often find representations in 

 the mummy-cases, when we remember how quickly they remove 

 ordure and offensive substances from the ground ; many of these 

 beetles deposit their eggs in a ball of dung, and roll them in the 

 sand until they have hardened into a regular cocoon ; the young 

 larvae, when hatched, find abundance of their natural food around 



