498 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENTOMOLOGY 



line down the back, overlap at the base (Fig. 590). These wing- 

 covers are short, and the hind wings are lacking. These beetles are 

 called oil-beetles in England, on account of the yel- 

 lowish liquid which oozes from their joints when they 

 are handled. Our most common species is the butter- 

 cup oil-beetle, Meloe angitsticollis. It is found in 

 meadows and pastures feeding on the leaves of vari- 

 ous species of buttercups. 



The species of the genus Nemognatha and some 

 allied forms are remarkable for having the maxills 

 developed into a long sucking-tube, which is some- 

 59°- times as long as the body, and which resembles some- 



what the sucking-tube of a butterfly. 

 The family EURYSTETHID^ includes only three American 

 species, one found in Alaska and two found in California. One of the 

 latter, Eurystethus subopdcus, was found b}^ Professor VanDyke on the 

 seashore, in crevices of inter-tidal rocks. 



The family OTHNIID^ is represented in our territory by five 

 species of Othnius, one from the East and four from the Far West. 

 They are small beetles, which are found running actively on the leaves 

 of trees, and are probably predacious. In this family the anterior 

 coxal cavities are closed behind, and none of the abdominal segTnents 

 are grown together on the ventral side. 



The family PYTHID^ includes less than a score of North 

 American species. Some of these live under bark, and are said to 

 prey on bark-beetles; others are found under stones. See table, p. 474, 

 for distinctive characters. 



The family PYROCHROIDvE includes a small number of beetles, 

 which are from 8 mm. to 18 mm. in length. The body is elongate; 

 the head and prothorax are narrower than the wing- 

 covers; the antennae are serrate or subpectinate in the 

 females and usually flabellate in the males (Fig. 591). 

 The beetles are found about decaying trees, beneath 

 the bark of which the larvas live. 



The family PEDILID^.— In this and in the fol- 

 lowing family the abdomen is composed of five free 

 segments, and the tarsi have the penultimate joint 

 lobed beneath. In this family the eyes are large, finely ^'^^- ^^i- 

 faceted, and usually emarginate. These beetles are 

 arboreal in habits. There are about fifty described species in our 

 fauna. 



The family ANTHICID^^^. — In this family, as in the preceding 

 one, the abdomen consists of five free segments, and the penultimate 

 joint of the tarsi is bilobed. But in this family the eyes are small, 

 rounded, usually coarsely faceted, and emarginate. These are 

 active ground beetles of predacious habits. Among our more corn- 

 mon species are those of the genus Notoxus, in which the prothorax is 

 prolonged over the head into a horn. There are nearly two hundred 

 described species of this family in our fauna. 



