ODOUR OF THE BURYING BEETLES. 91 



inevitably believe these insects to be of the same species, 

 especially if he saw them apart. The practised eye of the 

 entomologist, however, at once detects the marks of difference. 

 In tlie first place, the hind tibice are not straight, but much 

 curved, like those of a bow-legged man, and the club of the 

 antennae is orange. There is also a narrow line of golden 

 down on the front of the thorax. In the next place, there is a 

 considerable difference in the orange marks of the elytra, 

 which are two broad waving bands, one across the base, and 

 the other towards the apex, both being connected by a narrow 

 band of the same colour upon the margin. This species is 

 exceedingly variable in size, some specimens being barely half an 

 inch in length, while others attain the length of an inch. It 

 is very common in all parts of England. The specific name 

 vespillo is Latin, and signifies a man who carried out the dead 

 for burial at night. 



The reader may as well be warned that, although these 

 Beetles are very pretty to the eye, they are not equally pleasing 

 to the nostril, being in the habit of sending from their mouth 

 a horribly fetid black fluid, the odour of which is as enduring 

 as it is disgusting. This fluid is probably produced by the 

 putrid nature of its food, for Beetles which have recently 

 changed from the pupal form, and those which have fasted for 

 some time, do not possess it. 



We will now trace the progress of the insect from the egg 

 to the perfect Beetle. 



Soon after they are deposited, the eggs are hatched ; the 

 larvae being rather long, fleshy, narrowed at each end, and 

 having the segments, or rings, of the body very distinctly 

 marked. The legs are very tiny, and much too small to move 

 the large, heavy body. A curious substitute for legs is, how- 

 ever, found. On the upper surface of each segment is a horny 

 plate, with strongly-toothed edges. By alternately elongating 

 and shortening its body, the creature is able to force its way 

 through the soft material on which it feeds, just as a snake 

 glides upon the ground, or the worm beneath it. One of these 

 larvae, a very young one, is shown on Plate IV. Fig. 11. 



When the larva has attained the length of an inch and a 

 half, and is full-fed, it prepares for its change into the pupal 

 state. This it does by ceasing to feed, and making for itself a 



