FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



near the apex and usually one or more oblique ones; their 

 eyes are coarsely granulated. The two following genera 

 agree with it in having the last abdominal segment pro- 

 longed into a conical ' ' style ' ' and their tarsal claws comb- 

 like, but their hind tibia? have but a small ridge near the 

 apex and their eyes are only finely granulated : in Tomoxia 

 the style is short, obtuse, and the scutellum is usually 

 indented behind; in Mordella (Plate LXXXIV) the anal 

 style is long, slender, and the scutellum is triangular. 

 Two other genera Pentaria and Anaspis (fourth joint of 

 the front and middle tarsi smaller than the third) are not 

 especially rare but they have few and small species; their 

 abdomen is not prolonged at the tips and the tarsal claws 

 are not cleft. 



ANTHICID.E 



Probably three hundred or more species are know r n 

 from North America; more than a hundred new species 

 were described in a single paper. They are, for the most 

 part, small creatures with drooping heads; the key (p. 380) 

 gives a number of technical points which distinguish them 

 from related families. They are to be found on flowers, 

 in rotten wood, and in burrows in sandy places near 

 water. Some of them resemble ants and others have a 

 prominent horn on the front part of the thorax. Of the 

 latter sort : Notoxus has the hind tarsi not longer than the 

 tibiae; they are much longer than the tibiae in Mecynotarsus. 

 Our species of these genera are usually not over .25 in. 

 long. 



PYROCHROID.E 



See p. 381. Only a dozen or so species are known from 

 the United States and they are not usually very common. 

 The individuals are usually of moderate size with elytra 

 rather soft in texture, usually widened behind the middle, 

 and relatively long. The head is almost horizontal and 

 constricted behind the eyes into a rather slender neck, 

 both head and thorax being much narrower than the 

 elytra. Most of our species have a reddish pronotum and 



386 



