COLEOPTERA. 357 



The legs of the other Clavicornes are inserted at an equal distance from each 

 other. Those in which these organs are not contractile, and the tarsi at most 

 can only be flexed on the tibiae, whose mandibles are most commonly salient 

 and flattened or not thick, and whose praesternum is never dilated anteriorly, 

 will constitute five other tribes. 



In the third tribe of this family, that of the SILPHALES, we find five distinct 

 joints in all the tarsi, and the mandibles terminating in an entire point with- 

 out emargination or fissure. The antennae terminate in a club that is most 

 commonly perfoliaceous and consisting of from four to five joints. The 

 internal side of the maxillae, in most of them, is furnished with a horny tooth. 

 The anterior tarsi are frequently dilated, at least in the males. The exterior 

 margin of the elytra of the greater number is marked by a groove with a well 

 raised border. 



This tribe is composed of the genus 



SILPHA, Linnaeus, 

 Now variously divided. The most interesting of these genera are 



NECROPHOROS, Fabricius. 



Their instinctive habit of burying the bodies of Moles, Mice, and other 

 small Quadrupeds, have procured for them the names of enterreurs and porte- 

 morts. When they find a dead animal of the above description, they work 

 under it, and excavate a hole of sufficient dimensions to contain the body, 

 which they gradually drag into it ; in this body they deposit their ova, and 

 thus the larvae find their food in the very nidus in which they are hatched. 

 They are long, and of a greyish white colour; the anterior segments are 

 covered superiorly with a small, fulvous-brown, squamous plate, and the poste- 

 rior with little elevated points. They are furnished with six feet and strong 

 mandibles. When about to pass into the state of a chrysalis, they penetrate 

 deeply into the earth, where they construct a cell, which they line with a viscid 

 substance. 



North America possesses one species, the N. grandis, which surpasses all 

 others in size and beauty. 



SILPHA, Linnaeus, Fabricius. 



The body of a true Silpha is almost scutiform and depressed, or but slightly 

 elevated; thorax semicircular, truncated or very obtuse before; exterior 

 margin of the elytra strongly recurved and canaliculated: palpi filiform, their 

 last joint almost cylindrical, and in several terminating in a point. Most of 

 them live in carrion, and thus diminish the quantity of its noxious effluvia. 

 Some climb on plants, and particularly on the stems of wheat, where they find 

 little Helices on which they feed. Others remain on high trees and devour 

 caterpillars. The larvae are all equally active, live in the same manner, 

 and frequently in large societies. They bear a great resemblance to the 



