rUE BEETLE 



67 



The carrion or sexton beetles (Sil'pliidai ') include species 

 Avith a great range of size and form. Tlieir reactions to light, 

 moisture, etc., are much like those of the short -wdngcd beetles, 

 but they have taken a farther ste]! away from the normal food 



Fig. OS. — Side-view of a staphj'liiiid, elo\'ating its abdomen. 



of ))eetles in that tlie}' have come to live exclusively upon car- 

 rion. Some of them are heavy-ljodied, with powerful legs. 

 When one or more pairs of these beetles chscover a dead bird 

 or small mammal on the grounfl, they dig out the earth from 

 underneath and pile it upon the animal 

 until eventually the carcass is enti)'el}' 

 buried. Then the female deposits her eggs 

 upon the bod.y, so that a rich suppl\' of food 

 is provided for the young larvte which hatch 

 from the eggs. 



Another division of the carrion-lseetles 

 are contact-lovers, and accordingly thei;- 

 bodies are much flattened to enable them to 

 penetrate into crevices (Fig. 69). They 

 will often he found under the carcass of an 

 animal l.ying on the grounrl. The}' la.y 

 their eggs and the young develop in these same restricted 

 quarters. 



1 From silphe, the Grecl^ name of an ill-smelling insect. 



Fig 69. — A earrion 

 beetle, Silp}iaoineri- 

 carta. From " Stan- 

 dard Natural His- 

 tory." 



