S16 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
HABITS_OF BEETLES (FAM. SILPHIDA).—In No. 10, fol. 481, 
“Ona new genus of Silphidz,’ I find the following remarks :— 
“The writer alluded to the curious fact that all the members of 
this family found in New Zealand possessed habits quite difter- 
ent to their European representatives, being found without ex- 
ception among decaying vegetable matter, while the European 
species fed on carrion only.” This assertion strikes me as very 
strange, and is certainly incorrect, both in regard to this family, 
as far as my experience goes in the New Zealand species, as well 
as what I know of their European relations. Of the New Zealand 
species that came under my observation, Necrophilus prolon- 
gatus, Sharp (Entomologists Monthly Mag., vol. xviii. July, 
1881), xever was found by me but on carrion. Choleoa lugubris, 
Sharp (Trans. Ent. Soc., 1882, p. 1, April,) was taken mostly on 
carrion, but I have also found it on decaying vegetable matter, in 
kitchen offal, and amongst fowl dung. Another new genus, now 
being described by Dr. Sharp, although found by myself only 
once under bark (two specimens I got from a friend, and cannot 
give habitat), I have no hesitation to pronounce carnivorous, as 
there were several dead Prionopli reticularis near. That the Euro- 
pean sp. of this family are solely carrion eaters is equally erro- 
neous, for it is a well known fact that those nearest related to 
our New Zealand genera are as much, if not more, phytophagous 
than these. The genus Catops, Payk (Choleoa, Latr) has several 
species that live on fungi, and gums, or the sap of trees, and the 
most live on both decaying vegetable matter and carrion. The 
species of the genus Catopomorphus, Aubé,aremore vegetablethan 
carrion eaters, and the genus consists, if not entirely, nearly only 
of vegetable eaters. Other genera peculiar for their habitats 
(the cave dwellers) live no doubt more on fungi, &c., than flesh 
diet. But even amongst the genus Silpha some species have 
been observed to eat vegetables. For instance, S. obscura, L. has 
been found eating cereals, and the larva feeds on the leaves of 
mangold wurzel. Thesame is noted of the larva of S. atrata, 
L. and S. laevigata, Fabr, whilst the imagos are found in rotten 
wood and under moss. The interesting Pteroloma forststromii 
is principally found under moss near mountain rivulets, and 
Sphaerites glabratus, Fabr, is obtained on the sap that oozes 
from trees. As far as my observations go, I cannot say that I 
have found any great difference in the general habits of insects 
of the same family either in Europe, Australia, or New Zealand, 
the countries I have lived in—R. HELMS. Greymouth, July 
12th, 1883. 
REMARKABLE PIGEONS.—About two years ago a remarkable 
pigeon was brought to me which had been shot 10 miles from 
here, up the Shag River. Its plumage was quite white, with the 
exception of a few blotches of brown on back and upper part 
of wings, perhaps 7 or 8 in all. The beak and feet were the 
same as in the ordinary wild pigeon. The colour of the eyes I 
could not determine, as the species had been shot through the 
