136 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



Here they have reached their destination ; and here, or in 

 the intestines, they thrive and increase in size until full 

 grown, when in spring they are voided with the faeces, as 

 the one you found. They are supposed by some to produce 

 a painful, and sometimes fatal disease, to which horses are 

 at this season subject ; others, however, believe the presence 

 of these insects to be even conducive to the health of the 

 animal by their stimulating effects. 



C. — I have taken several new moths within the last 

 ten days, some flying in at the window at night : Noctu(B 

 and Geometrce. 



F. — Yonder is the carcass of a lamb, thrown out to 

 putrefy, with no regard to the olfactories of passers-by. If 

 your entomological zeal is sufficient to overcome your disgust 

 at the scent, you may probably find some large and hand- 

 some carrion beetles under it. 



C. — Oh, I don't much mind the smell if I can obtain aify 

 fine specimens. If you will stay here, I will examine it. 



F. — Well, have you succeeded ? 



C — Yes : there are multitudes of beetles of many dif- 

 ferent species crawling about it. Most of them were a 

 black species of Sylph, the elytra covering the abdomen, ex- 

 cept when the latter is elongated, the thorax broadly mar- 

 gined with pink ( Thanatophilus marginalis) : another 

 species was numerous, much larger and handsomer, the 

 elytra almost as long as the body, longitudinally ridged, and 

 having a transverse row of red spots near the hind margin : 

 the rest of the insect is black (Necrodes Sm-inamensis ) , 

 There were numbers of Staphylinidoe, the Fish-beetle of 

 Newfoundland ( Staphylinus Villosusjy the beautiful Gold- 

 tailed Rove-beetle ( Staphylinus Chrysurm), and other 

 smaller kinds. I also took a small black Hister (H. Har- 

 risii), and a little lamellicom beetle, with the thorax elon- 

 gated into a projecting horn, and having another horn on the 

 head ( Pathophagus latibrosusj. 



