166 



COLEOPTEEA OR BEETLES. 



is nearly half an inch long, flattish in shape, dark-brown in 

 colour, and when fresh, covered with a reddish-brown down, 

 which rubs off, when the elytra appear black ; each elytron 

 has three sharp ridges running along it, and between the 

 second and third ridges is a dark spot ; the edges of the 

 wing-shields are turned up, the tip of abdomen tawny-red. 

 S. atrata is also common : it is a black and shiny species 

 without the ridges on the wing-cases. We find the beetles 

 under dead animals and birds in the spring, and in the winter 

 amongst moss and under stones and wood. The female lays 



Fill. 81.— Beet Carrion-beetle {Silplia opaca). 



1 and 2, Larvpe, natural size ; 3 and 4, different stages of larviv, enlarged ; 5, female ; 

 (i, male. (Curtis.) 



her eggs on manure, decaying leaves, and on the ground ; in 

 two weeks the larvae appear, and feed off the wurzel for about 

 three weeks, when they pass into the soil and form a cell in 

 which they pupate ; the adult beetles come out in about 

 eighteen days. There are two broods in the year. The larvas 

 are two-fifths of an inch long, and have six feet and two 

 anal spines, and the sides of the segments pointed ; in colour 

 brownish-black except the sides, which are yellowish-grey. 



Prevention and Remedies. — As the beetles breed in manure, 

 it should be ploughed in at once on wurzel land where the pest 

 occurs. The beetles may be trapped by placing a freshly flayed 

 sheepskin on the ground here and there. 



