^32 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



familj^, and the largest of these is not more than a quarter of an inch 

 in length. This is the L. ciniianiomea, an insect found in truffles in 

 the early winter months : the posterior femora in the males are large 

 and toothed, and the tibiae bent. The species of Agathidium and 

 Clambus possess in a remarkable degree the power of counterfeiting 

 death by rolling themselves into a ball, the head being laid upon the 

 breast. The species of Orthoperus and Sericoderiis are amongst the 

 most minute Coleopterous insects. 



The second stirps of Rypophagous Pentamera is the NECRO- 

 PHAGA Latreille ; a group of considerable extent and variable 

 structure, but chiefly distinguished by having the antennae gradually 

 or suddenly thickened at the tips ; the mandibles generally robust 

 and exserted ; the maxillae with the outer lobe large, but not palpi- 

 form nor articulated ; the maxillary palpi with the basal joint often 

 small ; the body often oval or oblong, with the presternum not iin- 

 teriorly produced; the elytra sometimes shorter than the abdomen; 

 the legs formed for running, and not contractile. In some of the 

 aberrant species the tarsi differ in the number of their joints. 



As the name of the stirps implies, these insects are highly service- 

 able in removing the decaying remains of animal matter, and such 

 kinds of impurities. Some of the species are, however, employed in 

 feeding upon decaying fungi and other vegetable remains. In some, 

 moreover, are to be traced vestiges of those predaceous habits which 

 characterise the early groups of beetles : thus, as Mr. MacLeay 

 observes, Silpha 4-punctata ascends the oak for the purpose of 

 devouring the caterpillars, of which so many species infest this tree ; 

 whilst other Silphidae attack live terrestrial mollusca, just as we have 

 seen the neighbouring stirps of Philhydrida prey on certain aquatic 

 animals of the same subkingdom. By Linnaeus the majority of these 

 insects were ranged in the genera Silpha and Dermestes. 



This tribe of beetles is, on the one hand, nearly allied to the 

 Philhydra, with which indeed Dumeril united it under the name of 

 Helocera from the clavate structure of the antennae; and on the 

 other hand, to the Byrrhidae and Histeridae by means of the Dermes- 

 tidce ; Mr. Kirby introducing the Byrrhidae amongst the Necrophaga, 

 and making it thus the link between the Necrophaga and the osculant 

 Histeridae. The relationship of the Silphidas and the Brachelytra is 



