466 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



from the others placed in the same frame in 

 the form of its head ; it inhabits the coasts of 

 Guinea and Congo, and is known only in two 

 or three Museums. This and some other spe- 

 cies have been united by M. de Lamarck into 

 a genus to which he has given the name of Go- 

 liath. 



After the cetoniae come the small coleoptera, 

 which we shall notice on account of their 

 habits. Some, as the dermestes, Lin., and the 

 anthrenusj Geoff., are extremely noxious ; as 

 in their larva state they eat furs, and destroy 

 collections of birds, insects, etc. Others, as the 

 bjrrhuSy Lin., the nitidula, Fabr., the silpha,Lin., 

 the necrophoruSy Fabr., confine their ravages to 

 the dead bodies of animals, and thus stop the 

 course of the dangerous exhalations which 

 proceed from them. Scarcely is a mole dead 

 before the necrophori, which are seldom seen 

 except on such occasions, fly around its body, 

 insinuate themselves beneath it, dig by degrees 

 into the earth, and bury it entirely, after hav- 

 ing deposited their eggs in its body. The most 

 common species with us is the sylpha vespillo, 

 Lin. (n°3). The insects of the genera hydro- 

 philus, Fabr., elophorus, Fabr., dytiscus, Geoff. , 

 and the gyrinus, Lin., people our ponds; the 

 last especially often attract attention, by the 



