OUR BEETLE FRIENDS 219 



These Sexton or Burying Beetles (Necrophorus 

 vespillo), in thus interring dead animals, render 

 invaluable service in preventing the putrifying 

 of the body in the air. They are true scavengers, 

 and the object of their labours in burying the 

 dead animal is that it may afford safe shelter for 

 their eggs, and food for themselves and their 

 young. As soon as the body is buried, the 

 female Sexton Beetle deposits her eggs in it ; 

 these soon become larvae, and feed, like their 

 parents, upon the decomposing matter until they 

 are full grown. They then quit the remains of 

 the body, and dig down into the earth where 

 they form a chamber in which the final trans- 

 formation takes place. 



Another important and interesting group of 

 scavengers are the Scarab Beetles (Scarabceidce), 

 which live upon, collect, and bury manure and 

 stercoraceous matters in general. To prevent 

 the filth they live amongst collecting on their 

 bodies, these beetles keep their skins beauti- 

 fully glossy by the natural secretion of an oily 

 fluid. The Sacred Beetle (Scarabceus sacer), 

 which is to be found in the south of France, the 

 whole of southern Europe, Barbary, and Egypt, 

 and is the Sacred Scarabaeus of the Ancient 

 Egyptians, may be considered as typical. It is 

 a beautiful glossy black insect, stoutly built and 

 rather oblong-oval in shape. Its front legs are 

 remarkable, being enlarged and furnished with 

 several strong tooth-like spines, but have no 

 slender, jointed tarsus or foot at their end. 

 These limbs, together with the sharply notched 

 semicircular shape of the front part of the head 



