SILPHA. 51 



its eggs, and in order to their greater security, 

 contrives to bury it under ground. Three or four 

 insects, working in concert, have been known to 

 drag under the surface the body of so large an 

 animal as a Mole in the space of an hour, so that 

 no trace of it has appeared above ground. The 

 eggs deposited by the parent insects are white, 

 and of an oval or rather subcylindric shape: from 

 these are hatched the Larva?, which, when full- 

 grown, are more than an inch in length, and of 

 a yellowish-white colour, with a scaly orange- 

 coloured shield or bar across the middle of each 

 division of the body. Each of these larvae forms 

 for itself an oval cell in the ground, in which it 

 changes to a yellowish chrysalis, resembling that 

 of a beetle; out of which, in the space of about 

 eighteen days, proceeds the perfect insect. This 

 species possesses a considerable degree of ele- 

 gance, but generally diffuses a very strong and 

 unpleasant smell : it flies with considerable 

 strength and rapidity, and is generally seen on 

 the wing during the hottest part of the day. In 

 many parts of North America is found a variety, 

 differing merely in size, being far larger than the 

 European kind, and measuring an inch and half 

 in length. 



The Silpha Germanica of Linnaeus so much re- 

 sembles the S. Vespillo that it seems scarcely to 

 differ except in colour, being entirely coal-black. 

 It is found in similar situations with the preceding 

 specks. 



Several of the Silphae are of an entirely oval 



