Insects. 



0217 



into it, and, relinqnishiiif^ their usual nocturnal habits, employ tlicinsclves by making 

 murderous daylight attacks upon the peaceful Ouisci. In vain they roll themselves 

 into balls; their assail.mts find a salient point, and, working away with their 

 powerful mandibles, soon leave nothing but a shell. These beetles, however, do not 

 devote exclusive attention to the Ouisci, for if a caterpillar unluckily falls fiom the 

 birch tree above, they devour it entirely ; any poor powerless beetle that comes in 

 their way is speedily added to the list of victims ; even those hardest of all Coleop- 

 tera — the Curculifiiidae — I find deprived of legs aud antennae, and eventually I 

 believe the marauders attack each other, for their mutilated skeletons are scattered in 

 all directions, showing the truth of the old ad age, that " two of a trade never agree." 

 The species I find are Carabus violaceus, Plerostichus madidus and P. melanarius, 

 and sometimes a member of another amiable family, Ocypus olens, drops in to assist 

 at tiie revels. — J. W. Doui/las ; 6, Kingswood Place, Lee, July 29, 1858. — From the 

 ' Intelliyencer.' 



Notes and Observations on the Genus Necrophorus. 

 By Frederick Smith, Esq. 



When 1 was a very young entomologist, I read with indescribable 

 satisfaction the graphic accoinit of the habits of the " burying-beetle '* 

 by Rusticiis, in the ' Entomological Magazine:' these insects have 

 been favourites with me ever since. There are certain genera and 

 species of insects for which one has a particular regard, arising enlirelv 

 from the simple circumstance of our having become intimate with their 

 habits through the medium of some master mind, who has correctly 

 pourtrayed them. The history above referred to is of course only the 

 habit of the insect under such circumstances as described, or as tliey 

 would be when dealing with similar " small deer," as a frog, a mole, a 

 mouse, or any small bird. I will state my own experience of col- 

 lecting these insects under a dead sea-gull : I found the bird dead on 

 the shore, and placed it on a sand-bank which had a south-west aspect ; 

 this was towards evening on a hot day in the month of August. The 

 following morning I captured, beneath the bird, five beetles (four 

 males and one female) of Necrophorus Ruspator, and one male and 

 one female of N. Vestigator; the next morning I took two of N. IIu- 

 mator and five of N. Vestigator; on a third visit the gull yielded two 

 males of N .Vespillo, four of N. Ruspator, and three of N. Vestigator, 

 the number of the sexes being very unequally divided, the specimens 

 of Ruspator being all males. By the time I had secured the above 

 number of specimens, — which, together with hosts of flies, SilphidLC 

 XVI. 3 A 



