338 



Mr. G. Lewis on Japanese Silphidee. 



XLIV. — A List of the Japanese Silpludge.' 

 By Geoege Lewis, F.L.S. 



The following is a list of the Japanese Silphidee, consisting 

 of twenty-three species, of which three are treated of as new. 



Necrophoriis coucolor, Kraatz. 



— j aponicus, 7Z«roM. 



maculif'rons, Kraatz, 



moutivagus. 



4-punctatus, Kraatz. 



latifaaciatus. 



mortuorum, Fahr. 



tenuipes. 



Ptomascopus morio, Kraatz. 

 plagiatus, M^n^tr., Motsch. 



A-maculatus, Kraatz. 



Davidis, Fairiu. 



playiatipennis, Lewis, 



Necrodes littoralis, Linn. 



uigricornis, Harold. 



Silpha japonica, Motsch, 



bruunicoUis, Kraatz. 



Yenatoria, Harold. 



perforata, Gehler, 



sylvatica, Leiois, 



sinuata, Fahr, 



rugosa, Linn. 



thoracica, Linn. 



subrufa, Lewis. 



nigropunctata, Lewis, 



atratus, Linn, 



The Silphidse have a curious habit, common enough also 

 with other insects, and well known to every one who 

 studies them, of remaining stationary when alarmed, with 

 outstretched legs and with the head and thorax bent towards 

 the abdomen. The attitude is often expressed as '^ the 

 feigning of death ; " but what the beetles really do in assum- 

 ing this posture is to bring the edges of the hard chitinous 

 epidermis together, and this is the only position in which the 

 edges can meet. When the insects are active and the head 

 on a plane with the thorax the soft membranous parts between 

 the hard segments are exposed, and it is presumable that a 

 wound or injury to these frail structures would be very 

 harmful, if not mortal. We sometimes find a beetle with 

 part of its chitinous covering broken or bruised ; but it is 

 probable that unless the membranous part beneath (for it 

 extends under it) is injured, the damage done to the insect is 

 not by any means immediately fatal. If, as suggested, the 

 piercing or lacerating of the membranous film is mortal, there is 

 a manifest object in the animal covering it when disturbed. 

 Dr. Sharp, in an interesting paper on Hypocephalus armatusj 

 Desmarest (C. R. ent. Belg. xxviii.), has already written on 

 this subject. 



The stationary posture of the imago is similar to the recum- 

 bent attitude of the insect when it is a pupa, except that the 

 legs are free. When the beetles " feign death " their legs 

 are thrust out away from the body, and this action closes the 



