276 [May, 



of specimens of the Coleoptera in question, as a definite character is suggested for 



each insect. 



i. Apex of elytra truncate, apical sutural angle rather more than a right 



angle maeinus. 



ii. Apices of elytra separately produced lobe-like, gaping ; apical sutural 



angle obliterated Kobinii. 



It may be furthermore remarked, that whilst the eyes of marinus are " small, 

 sunk into the head," those of Hobinii are moderately prominent, granulate. — 

 J. Keys, Plymouth : April 7th, 1888. 



The Worm (?) that devoureth. — The accompanying article, which appeai'cd 

 under the above heading in "The Pharmaceutical Journal" of December 10th, 1887, 

 has been sent to me as likely to prove interesting to readers of the Ent. Mo. Mag. ; 

 the study, as the Editor, in another place, allows is not superficially attractive, but 

 it evidently may have its uses, and, in fact, is said to have been already utilized in 

 judicial inquiries. 



" An investigation that is going on in France as to the sanitary relations of 

 cemeteries, which recently involved the exhumation of a number of bodies in the 

 burial place at Ivry, has contributed some further information on the subject, that 

 has been recently communicated to the Academy of Sciences by M. Megnin.* The 

 bodies exhumed, which had been buried for known periods ranging between two and 

 three years, yielded a rich harvest of larv89, pupae, moultings, and even perfect insects 

 of various species. Scientific identification of these has shown — as might be expected 

 — that although the larvse which fed on buried corpses are innumerable as individuals, 

 the species are much fewer than of those which attack dead bodies exposed to the open 

 air. Several species are common to both conditions, but some of them are evidently 

 peculiar to the grave, and two of them were previously unknown. It has also become 

 evident that the larvae of the Diptera and Coleoptera play a most active part in the 

 disintegration of bodies buried under ground, as they do in those exposed above 

 ground, and that, as has been hinted before, the different species make their 

 appearance in regular succession, not simultaneously. In the corpses that were 

 exhumed after being in the earth two years, it was obvious that the rdle of the larvae 

 of certain Dipterous flies {Calliphora vomitoria and Curtoneura stabulans) had been 

 long played out, it having commenced probably at the time of burial, if not before. 

 These had been succeeded by the larvae of another Dipterous species {Anthomyia sp.) ; 

 whilst the larvae of still another member of the same order {Phora aterrima) had 

 been carrying on the work so recently that myriads of the insects were found still in 

 the pupal stage, not having yet reached the perfect form. As to the Coleoptera, the 

 larvae of one species (Shizopha^us parallelocollis) were still in full activity. It is 

 very curious to learn in respect to this insect that Entomologists had no knowledge 

 previously of it in its larval form. The perfect beetle was known to be met with 

 exclusively in the grass of cemeteries, but how little its true business there was 

 suspected seems to be indicated by the generic name of " root eater " conferred upon 

 it. Another curious observation that applies to the last-mentioned two insects is, 

 that whilst the Phora larvae were found feeding exclusively on lean corpses, the 

 Rhizophagus larvae seemed to be just as exclusive in their preference for putrescent 

 adipose matter. 



* Comptes rendusde I'Acadfimie des Sciences, T. cv. No. 20, 14, Nov., 1887. 



