. Natural history. Zoology. ROVE-BEETLES AND CHAFERS. 557 an inch or more in length, and are black, •with orange-red bands on the elytra. They are remarkable for their habit of interring the bodies of small animals, such as mice or birds, which they may find lying about, by scooping out the earth underneath, dragging and Burying-Beetles. stamping them down, and covering them up. The females are buried with the carcase, on which they deposit their eggs, and then make their way back to the surface. We have figured Necrophorus vespillo (Linn.), one of the commonest species. There is a group of be
. Natural history. Zoology. ROVE-BEETLES AND CHAFERS. 557 an inch or more in length, and are black, •with orange-red bands on the elytra. They are remarkable for their habit of interring the bodies of small animals, such as mice or birds, which they may find lying about, by scooping out the earth underneath, dragging and Burying-Beetles. stamping them down, and covering them up. The females are buried with the carcase, on which they deposit their eggs, and then make their way back to the surface. We have figured Necrophorus vespillo (Linn.), one of the commonest species. There is a group of beetles allied to, and sometimes included in, the Necro- phaga, called, from their aquatic habits, the PhUhydrida. The largest species. Hydrous piceus (Linn.), is a shining black beetle, „ longer, narrower, and more convex than the species of Water-Beetle Dyivicus, from which its short-clubbed antennfe and much longer hind legs will at once distinguish it. It is sometimes called the groat water-beeolo. The Lamellicornes or chafers form a very interesting and important group of beetles, but are not very numerous in Europe. They are distinguished by the structure of their antennae, which are short, and furnished at the extremity with a series of flat plates, which Chafers, spread out like a fan. They feed on plants or dung, and some species are very destructive. They are stout, round, or oblong beetles of considerable size. Many of the species are black, but others exhibit much variety of colour. There are many large species among them, and they are frequently furnished with great horns, largest in the males, and often assuming very strange shapes, on different parts of the head and thorax. The dung-beetles or Scaralxt'idie (a name sometimes applied to all the iameHieWHes) are generally black and shining, though sometimes inclin- ing to greenish or purple, especially beneath. They have strongly toothed and flattened legs for digging. Some Dung-Beetles. species, like tlie Egypti
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Keywords: ., bookauthorly, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
