58 
THE ORDER OF OOLEOPTERA. 
[Fig. 19. J 
The Necrophorus Americanus is nearly an inch and a half in length. 
The other species do not exceed an inch, and a few of the smaller spe- 
cies scarcely exceed half an inch in length. Silpha 
Americana has the thorax broadly margined with 
; ? __ yellow ; & marginata has the thorax margined with 
red; 8. inequalis [Fig. 18] is wholly black; 8. caudata 
has adull bronze thorax, and black elytra, with many 
- /(Q small tubercles. The Necrodes surinamensis is black, 
N iw HIT t il A Atlf! nf Afl.A.ll p 1 vtmTl n.iwl 
with a reddish spot near the end of each elytron, and 
the elytra strongly carinated or ridged. Necrodes 
necrophori's:—i, anten- differs from Silpha in having a more elongated 
“mm 'i>i-m'ath— 'after form, and the antennae with a greater number of 
■\Yoatwood. „ . . . ... 
perfoliate joints. 
Family VIII. SCAPHIDIID^E. 
From the genus Scaphidium of Olivier, a name meaning a little slciff 
or boat, and given to these insects on account of their fancied resem- 
blance to a boat, being thickest and arched in the middle, and narrowed 
towards each end, the head being very small, and the tip of the abdo- 
men being conical and pointed, and projecting beyond the end of the 
wing-cases. The first abdominal segment is unusually long. These are 
small, shining-black insects found in fungi and rotten wood. They 
move rapidly, but with an uneven or skipping gait. They constitute a 
very small family, only seventeen N. A. species having been described 
at the present time. 
Family IX. HISTBRID.E. 
Founded upon the genus Hister of Linnaeus, a term borrowed from 
the Latin hister, or histrio, meaning a stage actor or mimic ,• and applied 
[Fig. 20. j to these insects on account of their habit of persistently 
feigning death when captured ; a habit, however, which 
2 they have in common with many other Goleoptera. They 
are mostly small, short, rounded or somewhat square- 
shaped beetles, of a very hard consistency, and a glossy 
black color, very rarely marked with a few red spots. They 
H ue l ' R ™tura°i are further distinguished by their small heads, which can 
tm- : of “same be retracted into the thorax, so as to be nearly or quite in- 
ter v^twlod! visible ; and also, by their truncated or shortened wing- 
cases, leaving the two last abdominal segments exposed. They live in 
the excrement of animals, and other decomposing substances, mostly 
animal, but sometimes vegetable. 
Number of described N. A. species, one hundred and eighty-four. 
