necrophaga

pl. [Pref. necro-, and Greek phage in to eat.] Entom .: A name adopted by many modern entomologists for Latreille's Clavicornes. It contains in common, except the practice of feeding on decay a number of families, which have scarcely anything ing animal or vegetable matter. ně-croph'-a-gạn, s. [NECROPHAGA.] Entom.: A beetle belonging to the group Necrophaga (q. v.). ně-croph'-a-goŭs, a. [Mod. Lat. necrophag ( a ); Eng. adj. suff. -ous.] *1. Ord . Lang .: Eating or feeding on the dead. 2. Zool. & Entom .: Belonging to or characteristic of insects or other animals which feed on decaying carca es. stirps." West wood: Modern Cla . of Insects, i. 137. "These insects are the most necrophagous of the *ně-croph-11-işm, s. [Pref. necro- ; Gr. phileō =to love, and Eng. -ism.] An unnatural love of or appetite for the dead, manifesting itself in various ways, as exhuming corpses to look at, ki , or mutilate them. It has a tendency to develop itself into a species of cannibalism.