Volume 8, Plate IX / Entomology (Insects)

Clavicornes

1. Necro­phorus humator. Entirely brownish black except the three orange-yellow terminal antennal joints, the head and thorax faintly punctured and the latter rather unequal in surface, the elytra more deeply punctured with three slightly elevated lines and a tubercle near the outer rear angle. The breast and legs bear yellow hairs; it is frequently met with in England, Scotland, and most northern countries of Europe.
2. Necrodes littoralis. Entirely black with the three terminal antennal joints orange yellow, the thorax nearly orbicular, the antennae thickening gradually from the fifth joint. Each elytron bears three elevated lines with thickly punctured intervening spaces, the second line angulated and joined to the third by a tubercle, the hinder thighs very thick and toothed beneath; it occurs not unfrequently on sea shores and river banks, under sea-weed and carrion.
3. Silpha quadri­punctata. Five to six lines long, black and shining with the thorax and elytra sides pale yellow, each elytron bearing two rounded black spots, the body shield-shaped and depressed with a semicircular truncated thorax. One of the most ornamental of its tribe, feeding on decaying animal matter, it is not unfrequent in France and England and has been found in Scotland as far north as Sutherlandshire.
4. Anthre­nus scroph­ulariæ. Scarcely exceeding two lines long and shown magnified, the head black sometimes with a white forehead spot, the antennae reddish at base and black toward the tip, the thorax black with whitish sides and often a deep-red hinder edge. The black elytra bear three interrupted white bands with a deep-red suture, the under side white-scaled; it occurs in Britain and most of Europe, its larvae feeding destructively on dried animal substances in museums.
5. Hister Reni­formis. Almost square in form with short truncated elytra and contractile legs drawn close to the body, glossy black with two red spots on the elytra, the latter bearing two or three longitudinal ridges and punctured at the sides. The under side and legs are black, the legs toothed on the outer edge; it lives in cadaverous and excrementitious matter, feigning death convincingly when alarmed, and is found in various parts of Europe.