326 
Psyche 
[Vol. 94 
1933, Milne and Milne 1976, Anderson 1982, Wilson 1983, Wilson 
et al. 1984, Wilson and Knollenberg 1984, Wilson and Fudge 1984). 
Males and females are attracted to carrion, and intrasexual compe- 
tition occurs within each sex until usually only one male and female 
remain. The pair may then move the corpse; both sexes dig beneath 
to bury it, remove the fur or feathers of the carcass, and roll it into a 
ball treated by both male and female with anal and oral secretions. 
Following burial, the female’s ovaries rapidly complete develop- 
ment (Scott and Traniello 1987) and she lays approximately thirty 
eggs in the soil nearby which hatch into altricial larvae that are fed 
regurgitated food by both parents. The larvae are soon capable of 
feeding from the corpse directly, but may also receive food from 
their parents throughout development. About two weeks after bur- 
ial, the larvae leave the burial chamber and pupate in the soil 
nearby. Usually, at least one parent remains with the brood until 
larval dispersal. 
Ant and burying beetle competition was studied in a mixed hard- 
wood (maple/ birch/ beech) and softwood (pine/ hemlock/ spruce) 
forest at Jaffrey, New Hampshire (Cheshire County) and in a 
pine/ oak forest and two field sites at Wimauma, Florida (Hills- 
borough County). Nicrophorus sayi, N. orbicollis, N. defodiens, 
and N. tomentosus are common at the northern site, and N. 
orbicollis and N. carolinus were trapped in Florida. In order to 
study abundance and diversity of ants and burying beetles, a 
transect of 10-25 pitfall traps (0.95 liter jars) located 10 m apart was 
set out on each site. In New Hampshire these were baited with aged 
beef kidney and in Florida with previously frozen whole chicks 
( Gallus gallus) which did not dry out in the heat and were more 
effective in attracting all invertebrates. Pitfall traps were censused 
after 24 h. To examine competition between ants and beetles for the 
utilization of small vertebrate carrion, previously frozen mice ( Mus 
musculus ), 8-60 g, or chicks, 45-55 g, were placed over 0.95 liter jars 
or 1 1.4 liter pots filled with potting soil and sunk into the ground at 
25-m intervals. These traps were censused every 24 h and the 
ultimate fate of each carcass (buried by beetles, overrun by ants 
until the carcass was consumed or was no longer attractive, removed 
by vertebrates, or utilized primarily by flies) was recorded. The traps 
containing carcasses buried by beetles were retained and adults 
leaving the brood chamber, and either eclosing flies or teneral 
