272 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



occur in Europe, six of which are natives of, and 

 one doubtfully indigenous to, the British Islands. 

 Although the genus as a whole is known as 

 burying beetles, the individual insects, on account 

 of their retiring habits, have never earned for 

 themselves popular names, so that in alluding to 

 the species we are obliged to refer to them by 

 purely scientific nomenclature. 



The genus Necrophorus belongs to the Silphidae, 

 one of the thirty-one families into which our 

 Clavicornes are usually divided. It is distinguished 

 from other members of the tribe to which it 

 belongs by the very distinct knob or club with 

 which the antennae terminate. This club is com- 

 posed of the four apical joints, the number of joints 

 altogether being eleven ; but the second of these 

 is so small that the antennae appear to be ten- 

 jointed, which is also another salient point in the 

 determination of the genus. As a matter of fact, 

 however, anyone who has once seen a sexton 

 beetle is never likely to mistake it for any other 

 British insect ; as apart from the distinctive 

 antennae, the general sculpture and coloration of 

 the species are very marked. 



Our British burying beetles fall naturally into 

 two groups, easily known by the elytra or wing 

 cases, in the one being unicolorous blackish- 

 brown, or quite black, whilst in the other the 

 black is relieved by two transverse orange bands- 

 To the first of these divisions belong two beetles 

 comprising at once our rarest and our commonest 

 species. 



Necrophorus germanicus is a fine robust insect of a 

 brownish black hue C 1 ). It is the largest of our 

 burying beetles, being from an inch to an inch 

 and a-quarter in length. The elytra, which are 

 abruptly squared behind, exposing a portion of the 

 abdomen, in common with all beetles belonging to 

 this genus, have two faint longitudinal raised lines 

 on each. The legs are powerful, and, like other 

 members of the group, the anterior tarsi of the 

 males are much dilated and covered beneath with 

 tufts of stiff yellowish-red hairs. They also have 

 a very distinct red triangular patch on the fore- 

 head, which spot is also more or less feebly 

 traceable in the females. The antennae are some- 

 what short and entirely black. The habits of this 

 insect differ from all the other species, in that 

 its food is not entirely confined to carrion, N. 

 germanicus preying to a large extent on dung- 

 frequenting and other insects. It is exceedingly 

 rare in Britain and is somewhat doubtfully indi- 

 genous, although recorded from Windsor, Oxford, 

 Hastings, Norwich and one or two other places in 

 the south of England. 



Our next species, Necrophorus humator (fig. 2), is 



(!) The drawings illustrating this paper are by the author. 

 They are portraits taken direct from the insects indicated. 

 — Ed. Science-Gossip. 



as common and widely distributed as N . germanicus 

 is local and rare. Its average size is scarcely so 

 large as the latter, although individual specimens 

 are occasionally met with measuring an inch and 

 an-eighth in length. It is completely black, the 

 head and thorax, however, having a more polished 

 appearance than the elytra. Apart from its 

 smaller size, this beetle is easily distinguished 

 from N. germanicus by the three raised longitudinal 

 lines on each wing-case, and also by the fact that 

 whilst in the latter the antennae are all black, 

 they have in N . humator orange-red clubs. It is 

 ubiquitous throughout the kingdom. 



The remaining five species, which constitute our 

 second group, are easily recognised by their broad, 

 transverse, orange bands. These stripes vary 

 somewhat in breadth, so that some beetles appear 

 much lighter than others of the same kind. 



Necrophorus mortuorum, the smallest member of 

 the genus, ranges from three- to five-eighths of an 

 inch in length. It is somewhat local, but widely 

 distributed in England and Scotland, and probably 

 in other parts of the Kingdom. It is known from 

 the rest of the banded species by the knobs of the 

 antennae being black and by the division of the 

 hinder yellow band at the suture into two irregular 

 oval- or kidney-shaped patches. 



Necrophorus vestigator is rather larger than the 

 last beetle, being from five-eighths to three- 

 quarters of an inch long. It is a scarce insect, 

 and appears to occur only in the south and 

 south-east of England and very locally in Ire- 

 land. From other members of this group it may 

 be known by the long yellow hairs with which all 

 the margins of the thorax are bordered and, in 

 common with N. vespillo, by the thick, yellow, 

 silk-like down on the abdomen. The thorax, too, 

 is very much broadened in front. The clubs of 

 the antennae in this and the remaining species are 

 orange-red. 



Necrophorus ruspator is about the same size as the 

 preceding, but differing from it in the thorax, 

 which is quite devoid of pubescence. The central 

 black band is also more regular than in any of the 

 others. It is local in some parts, but as a rule 

 fairly common. A variety {microcephalus) is some- 

 times found in which the head is small and 

 triangular, but it is very rare. 



Necrophorus interruptus varies from half to three- 

 quarters of an inch in length. It closely resembles 

 N. ruspator, but is known by the front orange band 

 being distinctly divided at the suture, whereas in 

 the latter both stripes are continued right across 

 the elytra. It is always a rare insect, and has only 

 been recorded from the southern portions of 

 England. A variety of this beetle (gallicus) is also 

 known, of which one or two have occurred in 

 Britain, but no trustworthy records as to localities 

 appear to be extant. 



