74 INSECTS. 



black ash colour, brown, and grey, being the prevalent 

 hues. (See PL I. fig. 5.) 



The burying beetle, like the vulture, appears to scent his 

 prey from a distance, and his first endeavour is entirely to 

 bury the carcase of any dead animal left upon the surface 

 of the ground. By scraping the earth from beneath the 

 carcase it succeeds in effecting this, and it is said that the 

 prey is sometimes buried at the depth of nearly twelve 

 inches. When this is done the female deposits her eggs 

 in the carrion, and these, when full-fed, undergo their 

 change into the pupa state whilst still under ground. 



It is recorded that in fifty days four beetles buried 

 four frogs, three small birds, two fishes, one mole, two 

 grasshoppers, the entrails of a fish, and two pieces of ox 

 liver. 



Some allied genera feed on decaying or dead vegetable 

 matter, and are found in fungi and under the bark of 

 trees, and in cellars on the wine corks ; some are even 

 injurious to living plants, and some attack living snails, 

 larvae, &c. 



It is impossible to dismiss this group of insects with- 

 out notice of the genus Dermestes, small beetles of which 

 the bristly larvae prey upon fur, feathers, woollen cloths, 

 dried flesh, and other such substances the Bacon-beetle 

 is one of these. There is nothing very remarkable in 

 the appearance of the perfect insect, but the clothing of 

 the larva is one of those marvels of nature which so con- 

 stantly arrest our attention when least expecting to find 

 subjects of admiration. This little grub sometimes 

 considerably less than a quarter of an inch in length is 

 clothed with hairs, various in size and form. Of these 

 some are more or less strong, spinous, and irregularly 

 covered with minuter hairs. This is a very common 



