[463] It is to be observed that in our cold climates, during the winter months, when excrement and putrescent animal matter are not so offensive, they are left to the action of the elements, insects being then torpid.
[464] Curtis Brit. Ent. t. 5.
[465] Surely Mr. Marsham's name for this genus, Boletaria, is much more proper than that of Fabricius, Mycetophagus (Agaric-eater), since these insects seldom eat agarics.
[466] Œcon. Nat. Amœn. Ac. ii. 50. Stillingfleet's Tracts, 122.
[467] Maupertuis observes, that in Lapland he saw many birch-trees lying on the ground, which had probably been there for a very long time, with the bark entire, though the wood was decayed. Hence we may probably infer, that in that country there are few or none of the bark-boring insects.
[468] Latreille, Observations nouvelles sur les Hyménoptères. Annal. de Mus. 11.
[469] Nat. Hist. of Carolina, ii. 105.
[470] Reaum. vi. 282. St. Pierre's Voyage, 72.
[471] Bartram in Philos. Trans. xlvi. 126.
[472] The larvæ of some species of Coccinellæ feed, according to Prof. D. Reich, solely on the leaves of plants; as that of C. hieroglyphica, which eats the leaves of common heath (Erica vulgaris) after the manner of the larvæ of Lepidoptera. I suspect, however, that there is some mistake in this statement. Der Gesellschaft naturf. Fr. in Berlin Mag. &c. iii. 294.