COLEOPTERA 499 



The family EUGLENID^ is composed of small or minute beetles, 

 found on leaves and flowers; many of them are less than 2 mm. in 

 length. They resemble the members of the two preceding families; 

 but differ in having the antepenultimate segment of the tarsi bilobed, 

 instead of the penultimate, and in having the abdomen composed of 

 only four free ventral segments, of which the first, is formed of two, 

 firmly united but with the suture sometimes evident. There are 

 about forty described North American species. 



The family CEROPHYTID^ includes only two rare species of 

 Cerophytum, one found in California and one in Pennsylvania. These 

 were formerly included in the Elateridas; but they differ from that 

 family in that the posterior coxae are not laminated, and the 

 trochanters of the middle and posterior legs are very long. 



The family CEBRIONID^ includes a few species found in the 

 South. They were formerly included in the Elateridas; but they 

 differ from that family in that the abdomen consists of six or more 

 ventral segments. This family differs from the following one in hav- 

 ing the tibial spurs well developed. 



The family PLASTOCERID^ includes about a score of species 

 found in the South and in California. It is closely allied to the pre- 

 ceding famity, but differs in having the tibial spurs short and very 

 delicate. 



The family RHIPICERID.^, or cedar-beetles, is represented in 

 this country by a very small number of species, which are most com- 

 monly foimd on cedars. The antennse are serrate in the females, 

 frequently flabellate in the males. The anterior and middle coxae 

 are conical and prominent, the former with large trochantins; the 

 posterior coxae are transverse, and dilated into a small plate partly 

 covering the femora. 



Family ELATERID^ 

 The Click-Beetles or Elators 



There is hardly a coiuitry child that has not been entertained by 

 the acrobatic performances of the long, tidy-appearing beetles called 

 snapping-bugs, click-beetles, or skip-jacks (Fig. 592). 

 Touch one of them and it at once curls up its legs, and 

 drops as if shot ; it usually lands on its back, and lies there 

 for a time as if dead. Suddenly there is a click, and the 

 insect pops up into the air several inches. If it comes 

 down on its back, it tries again and again imtil it succeeds 

 in striking on its feet, and then it runs off. Pig, cq2. 



Our common species of click-beetles are mostly small 

 or of medium size, ranging from 2.5 mm. to 18 mm. in length. A 

 few species are larger, some reaching the length of nearly 50 mm. 

 The majority of the species are of a imiform brownish color; 

 some are black or grayish, and some are conspicuously spotted 



