THE ST A PHYLINUS OLENS. 
289 
short elytra, and the last segment of the abdomen is retractile. 
One of them is very well known, and belongs to the genus Sta- 
phy linns, and it is usually called, in this country, the Devil’s 
Coach-horse. It is a black insect, which is constantly seen on 
the roads, and emits a very disagreeable smell. It is a car- 
nivorous beetle, and has astonishing impudence and boldness, like 
many other animals that live by the chase ; so that when it is 
disturbed it does not attempt to run away, but stops, and puts 
on a menacing attitude. It grasps the ground with its legs, and 
cocks up its head and tail, snaps its sharp and curved mandibles, 
and exhales a very disagreeable smell. The larva is quite as 
carnivorous as the beetle ; and its head and thoracic segments 
are hard, its legs are long, and the abdomen, which is narrow 
towards the end, is furnished with a sort of tail, which assists in 
walking. It is very agile, and takes on the habits and methods 
of progression of the adult. 
In the engraving a perfect beetle is represented with its wings 
expanded, and on the left hand, immediately beneath it, is an adult 
whose wings are shut up underneath the short elytra, and which 
is in a menacing attitude. Below it are the larvae, and under a 
stone a nymph. The larvae hide themselves underneath stones or 
in quiet places, and only go out by night. They hybernate, and 
when the fine weather returns they make a cell in the ground, 
where they undergo their metamorphosis. The nymph is of a 
shining yellow colour, and has a crown of hair on the front of 
the thorax. Other members of the genus, such as Staphylinus 
maxillosus , which has prodigious jaws, live upon carcases ; others, 
which have thin and almost linear bodies, are very common in 
damp woods, and are found underneath fallen leaves and decayed 
bark, where they chase their prey. The larva of one species 
lives underneath the bark, and attacks others which feed upon 
decayed wood. There is a little group of the same tribe, the 
species of which live, in the larval and adult condition, in de- 
caying vegetables, and especially in mushrooms. An allied form 
does not care about the mushrooms, but seeks manure heaps, 
where its larvae devour the maggots of flies ; and another species 
lives in hornets’ nests, where it probably eats the larvae of those 
great wasps. 
T 
