592 PR0CEEDIN08 OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 57. 



(g) Palfus maxillae with three free joints and a low, not joint-like 

 palpiger, which is closely connected with stipes. 



(h) Mala maxillae ^ extending from the distal end of stipes; sim- 

 ple or transversely bisected. 



(^) Masdllai^ articulating area absent. 



(j) Subinentvmi well defined. 



{k) Quia as long as frons, elongate, rectangular, limited by two 

 parallel gular suPures. 



{I) Prothorax usually loith two well-separated prestemal plates 

 and an unpaired median sternal plate. 



(m) Abdominal segments fleshy, plicate, without chitinous shields, 

 often ivvidly colored and often with ainpullatory lobes. 



The above given combination of characters shows the Cleridae as 

 a comparatively simple larval type. This type, however, does not 

 represent the one from which the other Cleroidea have developed. In 

 fact, the Cleridae must be looked upon as a derived family in the 

 series and developed from the same group of families, the Ma- 

 lachiidae, Dermestidae and Trogositidae, from which probably the 

 whole series, except the Parnids, directly or indirectly has branched. 



In general organization the Cleridae are most like the Malachiidae. 

 In characters, as the shape of carclo and submentum and the shape 

 of the mandibles, the Cleridae come nearest to the Malachiidae and 

 Dermestidae ; but in other characters, as the well-developed and well- 

 separated presternal plates and the well-defined sternal plate, which 

 is present in the typical Clerid genera, and the occurrence of 

 pseudoannular spiracles in some of the genera, the Cleridae ap- 

 proach remarkably the typical Trogositidae, for instance, the genus 

 Trogosita. In common with all three families the family Cleridae 

 has a well-developed labrum and clypeus and a gular area; but 

 it differs from them in having protracted ventral mouthparts, as 

 the three families, like the rest of the series, have retracted. That 

 the gular area is elongate and as long as frons in the Clerids, but 

 shorter than frons and usually square or transversally rectangular in 

 the other three families harmonizes with the different position of 

 their ventral mouthparts. 



The more typical Dermestidae have a small but distinct lacinia, a 

 two-jointed galea and a slight indication of a division of ligula into 

 two lobes, what is a decidedly primitive character, not present in any 

 other Cleroid; in the Malacodermidae and Elateridae ligula is even 

 not developed. Most of the Trogositid genera have a porrect and ex- 

 serted head, as the Clerids, but the Dermestidae, some of the Trogosi- 



^ John B. Smith in Explanation of terms used in Entomology, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1906, 

 defines (p. 77) "mala maxillae" as "the lobes of maxilla; outer or galea, inner or 

 lacinia ; where only one is present, the term refers to that one." In the Cleridae only 

 one lobe, questionable If lacinia or galea, or both fused, is present. 



