39^ CLASS INSECTA. 



extremity, and terminated by strong spurs, and the elytra 

 truncated at a right angle. 



The jaws are destitute of a corneous onglet. The instinct 

 which they have of burying the carcasses of moles, mice, and 

 other small quadrupeds, have gained them the appellation of 

 burying beetles. They insinuate themselves underneath, 

 hollow the earth until the foss is sufficiently deep to contain 

 the body, and they cause it to enter there by degrees, drawing 

 it towards themselves. They deposit their eggs in this place, 

 and thus their larvae find nourishment. They are long, of a 

 greyish white, with the upper part of their anterior rings 

 clothed with a small scaly plate of a fawn-coloured brown, 

 and with little points raised on the final rings. They are 

 provided with six feet, and tolerably strong mandibles. To 

 pass into the nymph state they sink themselves very deep in 

 the earth, and construct a sort of lodge there, which they 

 line with a gluey substance. These insects, as well as many 

 others which live on cadaverous matters, have a very strong 

 odour of musk. Their habits have latterly fixed the atten- 

 tion of those persons who make a trade of killing moles, and 

 the work entitled, " L'Art du Taupier," presents us, in this 

 respect, some facts which had escaped the attention of natu- 

 ralists. These insects must have a very fine sense of smell, 

 since in a very short time after a mole has been killed many 

 necrophori are seen flying about it, which one would have 

 sought for before to no purpose in the neighbourhood. 



The digestive canal of Necrophorus and Silpha is at least 

 three times longer than the body. The oesophagus is very 

 short, and followed by an ellipsoid gizzard, the internal tunic 

 of which, a little membranous, is bristling, at least in many 

 species, with pointed hairs, planted in various directions, but 

 arranged in eight longitudinal bands, separated by smooth 

 intervals. The intestinal tube is very long, especially in the 

 necrophori and nccrodes. The surface of the intestine in the 



