BEETLES. 



381 



FlG. 443. Ips 

 fasciatus. 



and. according to Moufflet, the larva of a species of Bothrideres, found in Guadaloupe, 

 is an internal parasite of larvae of Lagochirus araneiformis, a cerambycid beetle. 



The usually flattened species of NITIDULID^; have antennae of eleven" joints; these 

 antennae are inserted under the front, and have an apical club of three (rarely two) 

 joints; the tarsi are variable, but more or less dilated, and their first joint is not short; 

 the anterior coxae are transverse and not prominent, the posterior ones flat and not 

 sulcate; the labial palpi are approximate at the base ; the ventral segments are free, 

 and the legs short. These beetles and their larvae feed in decomposing animal or 

 vegetable matter, in fungi and higher plants of soft texture, under bark of decaying 

 trees, on pollen, and an Australian species, Brachypeplus auritus, eats the wax in nests 

 of bees of the genus Triyona. 



The species of Ips have the antenna! club made up of three joints, the labrum 

 connate with the epistoma, the anterior coxae open, and the thorax not 

 margined at the base. I. fasciatus, common throughout the United 

 States, is shining black, with a band or spot of yellow across the base, 

 and another just behind the middle of each elytron. It eats decompos- 

 ing animal and vegetable matter, being especially common in autumn 

 upon decaying pumpkins or cabbage-stalks which have been left in the 

 fields. Ipsferruginea, of Europe is said to feed upon larvae of Hylesi- 

 nns piniperda. Species of Ips, and of other Nitidulidas, also frequent 

 stumps of freshly-cut birch and maple trees early in the spring, in order to eat the 

 sap which oozes from them. 



In Omosita the labrum is entire and free, the head horizontal, the prothorax not 

 margined at the base, the tarsi moderately dilated, and the front not lobed over the 



antennae. 0. colon is found in the eastern United States and 

 in Europe. It is about 0.12 of an inch long, much flattened, 

 is deep brown, spotted upon the elytra with light brown ; it 

 frequents decomposing animal and vegetable matter. 0. dis- 

 coidea, a slightly more elongate form than 0. colon, inhabits 

 Europe and the western United States. 



Of similar form to Omosita, but differing from it structurally 

 in having strongly dilated tarsi and feebly emarginate labrum, 

 are the species of Nitidida, of which N. bipnstulata is found 

 in Europe and the eastern United States. This species is 

 about 0.2 of an inch long, and dark brown with a light-brown 

 spot near the middle of each elytron. Its 

 habits are similar to those of Omosita. 



Dr. G. H. Horn writes of Carpophilus, "Labrum bilobed. 

 Antennae eleven-jointed,' terminated by a flattened-oval, three- 

 jointed club, grooves moderately deep, convergent. Legs mod- 

 erately robust, tibiae slightly broader at tip, spurs moderate. 

 Tarsi dilated, claws simple. Two, sometimes three, dorsal seg- 

 ments visible beyond the elytra ; abdomen beneath with segments 

 2-3 short, 1-4-5 longer." C. hemipterus, a species about 0.15 

 of an inch long, distributed over most parts of the globe. It 

 is dark brown, with pale spots upon the elytra. 



In Conotelus the abdominal segments are greatly prolonged, so that the abdomen 

 projects far beyond the elytra, as it does in the Staphylinidag. C. obsciints, a black 



FIG. 444. Nitidula bipns- 

 fulata. 



FIG. 445. Carpophilus 

 hemipterus. 



