POLYMORPHA CRYPTOPHAGIDAE HELOTIDAE 



235 



Fam. 33. Cryptophagidae. Front and middle coxae very 

 small and deeply embedded; antennae with enlarged terminal joints ; 

 tarsi Jive-jointed, the posterior sometimes in the male only four- 

 jointed ; abdomen with Jive visible ventral segments, capable of 

 movement, the first much longer than any of the others. A small 

 family composed of obscure forms of 

 minute size, which apparently have 

 mould-eating habits, though very little 

 is known on this point, and several of . _, 

 the genera (Anther ophagus, Telmatophi- \ ^ 

 lus) are found chiefly on growing plants, -=> 

 especially in flowers. Although the ^a 

 imago of Anther ophagns lives in flowers, 

 yet the larva has only been found in 

 the nests of bumble-bees ; there is FIG. UQ.Cryptojtiagus denta- 

 reason for believing that the imago 

 makes use of the bee to transport 

 it from the flowers it haunts to the nests in which it is to 

 breed ; * this it does by catching hold of the bee witli its 

 mandibles when the bee visits the flower in which the beetle is 

 concealed. It is strange the beetle should adopt such a mode of 

 getting to its future home, for it has ample wings. "We must 

 presume that its senses and instinct permit it to recognise the 

 bee, but do not suffice to enable it to find the bee's nest. Some 

 of the larvae of the genus Cryptophagus are found abundantly in 

 the nests of various wasps, where they are probably useful as 

 scavengers, others occur in the nests of social caterpillars, and they 

 are sometimes common in loose straw ; this being the habitat in 

 which Ferris found the one we figure. 



Fam. 34. Helotidae. Front and middle coxal cavities round, 

 with scarcely any angular prolongation externally ; all the coxae 

 widely separated ; '-Jive visible ventral segments, all mobile. 

 The Insects of this family are closely allied to Trogositidae 

 and Nitidulidae, and have the tarsal structure of the former 

 family ; but the Helotidae are different in appearance from 

 any members of either of these two families, and are readily 

 distinguished by the coxal character. They are frequently 

 classified with the Erotylidae, from which they differ by the 

 differently shaped feet, especially by the diminished basal joint. 



1 Penis, Larves, etc., p. 75. 



