Common Beetles of our Countryside 



Besides these Necrophori, which are the true " bury- 

 ing beetles/' we are almost certain to disclose beneath 

 this corpse a number of smaller flatter beetles also black 

 and with a very rough exterior. These belong to the 

 large genus Silpha which comes not far from Necrophoms. 

 They, however, do not average more than about 12 mm. 

 in length and differ much in shape, the thorax being 

 almost semicircular, and the hind body proportionately 

 much broader. We have thirteen British species and 

 ten of these are quite black, differing, however, consider- 

 ably in the sculpture of the elytra ; of the remaining 

 three, one is straw-coloured with five black spots on the 

 hind body and is found on trees where it preys on the 

 lepidopterous or other larvae it finds there ; one black 

 and flat with a scarlet thorax found in fungi as well as 

 carrion, but not common anywhere ; and one convex 

 shining chestnut-brown which occurs only in Ireland, 

 the Isle of Man and some of the Scots Islands. 



Nor are these Necrophagi and Silphce the only beetles 

 whose larvae help to rid the earth of decomposing animal 

 remains. There are several genera in the large family 

 of the Histerida, many of whose species perform a 

 similar office. They are all quite unlike the beetles we 

 have just mentioned, and we shall hardly fail to notice 

 them by reason of a dissimilarity so striking ; those 

 small highly convex or even globular polished black 

 beads that lie so quiet with their short stiff legs bent in 

 to their body and their antennae concealed beneath the 

 front of their head, these are beetles of the genera 

 Hister or Saprinus. The species of Hister are the larger, 



