COLEOPTERA. 121 



Some naturalists are pleased to find in the rapa- 

 cious race of beetles, the representatives of the eagles 

 and the falcons among the feathered tribes both are 

 equally organized to combat and to kill both strike 

 at living game, and consequently must stand pre- 

 eminent in strength and courage. But, as amongst 

 the flesh-devouring birds, species exist possessing 

 more ignoble attributes not formed for open battle, 

 but content to appease their ravenous appetites with 

 carrion and such offal ; so among the insects nume- 

 rous tribes exist, whose prey is garbage, and whose 

 whole employment seems to be to search for and 

 remove the dead remains of other animals. Every- 

 where these scavengers are busy ; some frequent the 

 muddy margins of our pools and ditches, eagerly in 

 quest of rotten prey, others prefer the land, where 

 they seek out with unremitting diligence whatever 

 from decay begins to taint the air, while some, the 

 very sextons of creation, bury whole the carcases they 

 meet with, and thus vigorously assist in carrying out 

 the sanitary laws of nature. To these scavengers 

 belong 



The Brachelytrous * Pentamerans. These have only 

 one palpus on each maxilla; their wing-cases are 

 much shorter than their bodies, which are generally 

 narrow and elongated. They include 



The Rove Beetles (Staphilinus), well known to every 

 schoolboy by their turned-up tails and threatening jaws 

 with which they menace their assailants. They generally 

 take up their abode in the earth, in the vicinity of dung- 

 hills, or of rotten trees, or anywhere in the neighbour- 

 hood of rottenness and decay ; they are all exceedingly 

 voracious, run very quickly, and take flight upon the least 

 alarm. Their bodies are generally jet black, and they 

 diffuse an intolerable odour. The larvee have the same 

 habits as the perfect insects, from which, except from the 

 circumstance that they have no wings, they are scarcely 

 distinguishable. 



The third section of Coleopterous Pentamerans 



* fipaxvs, brachus, short ; eAurpoy, elutron, wing-cover. 



G 



