466 



THE BURYING BEETLES. 



The Staphylinidae include a vast number of species that may be found in almost 

 every imaginable locality, and live on almost every imaginable kind of food. Their 

 dimensions are as variable as their habits, some species exceeding an inch in length, 

 while others are so minute as almost to escape the naked eye, and best to be caught 

 by waving a sheet of wet paper in the air. 



The upper figure represents the Devil's Coach-horse, shown of the natural size. 



NEXT to the Staphylinidae are placed some insects that have become quite famous for 

 their curious and valuable habits. These are the Necrophagae, popularly and appro- 

 priately termed Burying Beetles. 



It is owing to the exertions of these little scavengers that the carcasses of birds 



small mammals, and reptiles are 

 never seen to cumber the ground, 

 being buried at a depth of several 

 inches, where they serve to in- 

 crease the fertility of the earth in- 

 stead of tainting the purity of 

 the atmosphere. These beetles 

 may easily be captured by laying 

 a dead mouse, mole, bird, frog, or 

 even a piece of meat on the ground, 

 and marking the spot so as to be 

 able to find the place where it had 

 been laid. It will hardly have 

 remained there for a couple of 

 hours before some Burying Beetle 

 will find it out, and straightway 

 set to work at its interment. The 

 plan adopted is by burrowing 

 underneath the corpse and scratch- 

 ing away the earth so as to form 

 a hollow, into which the body 

 sinks. When the beetles have 

 worked for some time they are 

 quite hidden, and the dead animal 

 seems to subside into the ground 

 as if by magic. 



The strength and perseverance of these beetles are so great that a very short time 

 suffices to bury the creature completely below the ground, and the earth being scraped 

 over it, the process is complete. The object of burying dead animals is to gain a prop- 

 er spot wherein to deposit their eggs, as the Iarva5 when hatched feed wholly on decay- 

 ing animal substance. If the bait be dug up the day after it is laid, a pair of Burying 

 Beetles will in all probability be foundj and if the animal be of large dimensions a 

 dozen or more will have congregated round it. 



I have known a dead sheep that had been flayed and the carcass thrown into a dense 

 spinney, absolutely swarm with these beetles and their larvae. Owing to the great size 

 of the animal they had not been able to inter it in spite of all their efforts, but had 

 crowded in such numbers upon so vast a feast that I captured almost every species of 

 British Burying Beetle upon or near that sheep. Many of the larvae are wonderfully 

 active, black, flattish, and running with great speed. 



In the accompanying illustration two figures are given of one of the common Burying 

 Beetles, showing the creature as it appears while walking and during flight. The right- 

 hand figure represents a flattish black species very common on any decaying animal 

 substance, and producing wonderfully active grubs. I have found them by hundreds in 

 old bones. On the left hand is shown an odd little beetle, black and shining as if 

 carved out of jet, which belongs to a large genus found near and upon similar sub- 

 stances. 



BURYING BEETLES. 

 Hitter cadaveriaus. Necrophonis vestigaior. Sllpha opaca. 



