530 
THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 
tennae are usually enlarged so as to form a compact club, 
which is neither comb-like nor composed of thin movable 
plates; sometimes the antennae are nearly filiform. 
These insects usually feed upon decaying animal matter; 
some, however, feed upon fungi, and a few species have 
been known to be predaceous when pressed by hunger, 
destroying living snails and insects—even members of their 
own species. 
It is easy to obtain specimens of these insects by placing 
pieces of meat or small dead animals in the fields and exam¬ 
ining them daily. There are several other families of 
beetles the members of which can be attracted in this way. 
The larvae also live upon decaying flesh and are found in 
the same situations as the adults. 
We have in this country more than one hundred species 
of this family. Our larger and more familiar species repre¬ 
sent two genera, Necrophorus (Nec-roph'o-rus) and Silp/ia 
(Sil'pha). 
The Burying-beetles, Necrophorus .—To this genus belong 
the largest members of the family. The body is very stout, 
almost cylindrical (Fig. 638). Our com¬ 
mon species have a reddish spot on 
each end of each wing-cover; these 
spots are often so large that they ap¬ 
pear as two transverse bands. In some 
species the prothorax and the head are 
also marked with red. 
These insects are called burying- 
beetles because they bury carrion. 
When a pair of these beetles discover a 
dead bird, mouse, or other small ani¬ 
mal, they dig beneath it, removing the 
earth so as to allow the carrion to settle 
into the ground. This they will continue until the object 
is below the surface of the ground. Then they cover it 
with earth, and finally the female digs down to it and lays 
