318 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



the force of gravity, or by dint of various tugs by the Beetles themselves, the body is lowered, in 

 some cases to the depth of a foot, and the loose soil closes over it. The mother Beetles then lay their 

 eggs in the carcase, which are soon hatched, the larvae being elongated fleshy grubs, widest in the 

 middle, with three pairs of weak legs, and supplementary locomotive organs in the shape of a row of 

 stiff spines on the dorsal surface of the body, proceeding from the hind edge of a horny plate, with 

 which each segment is furnished. These spines, which are supposed to assist the larva; in wriggling 

 through the substances on which they feed, are more than an inch long when the insects are full grown. 

 They then leave the carcase to undergo their transformations, burying themselves in the soil, and 

 elaborating a kind of cell, with smooth inner walls, in which to change into the pupa stage. In about 

 fifteen days they emerge as perfect insects, and fly abroad. The carcases buried by the Necro- 



phori are usually devoured 

 to the last morsel, the 

 number of Beetles which 

 apply themselves to this 

 work being proportioned 

 to the size of the dead 

 body. 



Other genera of the 

 family do not possess 

 the burying instinct ; the 

 closely-allied Necrodes llt- 

 toralis, which is also a 

 common British insect, 

 feeding and breeding in 

 the interior of the carcases 

 of large dead animals. 

 Many of the true Silphse, 

 oval insects, with smaller 

 heads, and wing - cases 

 generally covering the end 

 of the abdomen, prey on 

 Snails, chiefly Helices, 

 living as well as dead ; 

 and others on dead fish 

 or reptiles, or the skins of 

 dead animals ; some live 

 in trees, and feed on 

 Caterpillars. The larvae of 



these have similar habits to the perfect insect, and, unlike their near relatives, the Necrophori, who 

 are born in the midst of an ample supply of food, they search independently for their prey ; their legs, 

 therefore, are strong and well developed. The genera Necrophorus and Silpha, consisting of about one 

 hundred and twenty species, are confined, with very few exceptions, to the north temperate zone. 

 Their absence or extreme rarity in the tropics and warm temperate latitudes may partly be accounted 

 for, perhaps, by their functions as scavengers being there performed by the ubiquitous Vultures. 



FAMILIES TRICHOPTERYGID^E, SCAPHIDIID^E, PHALACRID.E, AND NITIDULID^E. 

 The TRICHOPTERYGID^; are a family of exceedingly minute species, many being less than one-fiftieth 

 of an inch in length, the smallest of all known Beetles. They are found among decaying vegetable 

 matter, the litter of old haystacks, under manure-heaps, and so forth. Their movements are lively, 

 and those which possess wings fly well. The patience and industry of modern entomologists have been 

 rewarded by the discovery of about one hundred and fifty species of these almost microscopic creatures, 

 which have been subjected to careful examination, even in many cases to the dissection of the parts 

 of their mouths, and they have been classified under ten well-characterised genera. Tlie British 



HECKOPHILUS VESPILLO (THE BrRYIXG-BEETLE). 



