CHAPTER VI. 



VAUSSIDAZ AND BR ACU ELYTRA, OR ROVE BEETLES. 



According to the system which is followed in this work, we 

 take next in order a great tribe of Beetles which have been 

 gathered together under the common name of Rypophaga, i.e. 

 "refuse-eaters." As their name implies, these Beetles act the 

 part of scavengers, feeding upon various substances, whether 

 animal or vegetable, which would otherwise be decomposed and 

 become nuisances. The exact order of these insects is somewhat 

 obscure, and, indeed, it is not easy to fix the precise limit which 

 bounds them. This work, however, treats more of the offices 

 and forms of the insects than of the characteristics by which 

 their systematic arrangement is described, and we will therefore 

 content ourselves with selecting some of the most important 

 examples of each group of the Rypophaga. 



The first family is that of the Paussidse, and a most remarkable 

 family it is. It is a tolerably large one in point of number, but 

 all the species are very small, and require to be examined 

 through a lens before their extraordinary structure can be pro- 

 perly made out. None of them exceed half an inch in length, 

 while the greater number only attain half that measurement. 

 Mr. West wood has devoted much attention to these curious 

 Beetles, and for further information on the subject I must refer 

 the reader to his monograph on the Paussidas, published in 

 his "Arcana Entomologica," and illustrated with a number of 

 coloured plates. 



They are all dull and heavy in their movements, from which 

 habit they derive their name of Paussidse, that being formed 

 from a Greek word signifying to "rest" or "repose." They 



