3102 



THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



Silpha atrata and larva. (Rather less than natural size.) 



name of ' ' sexton " or " burying ' ' beetles. Their mode of operation is to creep 

 underneath and dig the earth away until they have made a hole big enough to 

 receive the dead body; as the latter sinks, the loose soil closes over it and in 

 time completely hides it from view. The females then lay their eggs in the 

 carcass, which subsequently serves as food for the larvae. These insects must have 

 a very acute sense of smell, for in a very short time after a mole has been killed 

 some of them may be seen hovering over the body, although not previously 



observed anywhere in the 

 vicinity. Out of about a 

 dozen species of Necrophorus 

 occurring in Europe, seven 

 are found in Britain, N. ves- 

 pillo being perhaps the one 

 which is most widely dis- 

 tributed. Most of the species 

 of the genus Silpha from 

 which the family name is 

 derived are dark, sombre- 

 looking insects, somewhat 

 ovate in shape, the phothorax 

 being broad and closely ap- 

 plied to the base of the elytra, 

 while the elytra usually ex- 

 tend to the tip of the abdomen. The head is small, and when turned down is 

 hidden under the pronotum. The beetles themselves are generally met with in 

 or about dead animals, but some of the species display a partiality for a vegetable 

 diet; thus in France the adult Silpha reticulata has been found fo attack wheat, 

 while Silpha nigrita devours strawberries in the Alps and Pyrenees. The larvae of 

 most of the species are somewhat like wood lice in shape, with the posterior angles 

 of the abdominal segments sharply produced. Those of S. opaca and 6". atrata are 

 sometimes very destructive to the leaves of sugar beet and mangold wurzel. 



The Trichopterygidce , or hairy-winged beetles, are exceedingly minute insects, 

 the smallest, in fact, of all the 

 beetles, many of the species being 

 less than the fiftieth part of an inch 

 in length. They are further remark- 

 able on account of the structure of 

 their wings. These organs are very 

 long and narrow, each consisting of 

 a strip of membrane attached to a 

 horny stalk and fringed on each side 

 with long and closely-set hairs. 



The Histerida form a well- 

 defined family, widely distributed, 

 and numbering considerably more Hister fimetarius and larva. (Natural size.) 



