88 THE NECROPHAGA, 



be supported by an intense devotion to science or 

 fishing, those of the next tribe lead us to substances 

 of a still more disagreeable nature. Many of them, 

 in fact the largest and most characteristic species, are 

 almost invariably found in or about the bodies of 

 dead animals, and it is upon carrion in every stage of 

 putrescence that both they and their larvae feed. 

 Hence the name of NECROPHAGA* is given to the 

 tribe which includes these insects. Like the Philhy- 

 drida, they have the antennae short, and more or less 

 distinctly clubbed, sometimes gradually thickened 

 from the base to the apex, and sometimes furnished 

 with a large knob composed of three or four of the 

 last joints. The outer lobe of the maxillae is not 

 jointed, and the palpi are only of moderate length. 

 The legs are formed for walking, and their different 

 parts are not capable of being folded one within the 

 other and applied close to the body; the tarsi are 

 almost always composed of five joints. 



It will be easily seen from the above characters 

 that the line of demarcation between the Necrophaga 

 and the aberrant or less characteristic forms of the 

 preceding group, is not a very strong one, and, in 

 point of fact, some authors have removed the latter 

 amongst the members of the present tribe. As a 

 general rule, however, there is not much difficulty in 

 distinguishing between a Philhydridous and a Necro- 

 phagous beetle, especially as regards the more typical 

 species of the two groups, with which we are princi- 

 pally concerned. The Necrophaga are almost always 

 of a flattened form, and their elytra are often shorter 

 than the abdomen ; whilst the Philhydrida are gene- 

 rally convex, and their elytra cover the whole abdomen. 

 * Gr. nekros, a carcase, phago, to eat. 



