32 A. COTTAM OUR BEITISH BEETLES: 



soft integuments. They are, for this reason, very difficult to pre- 

 serve satisfactorily, having a tendency to shrivel and hecome dis- 

 torted. Some of the species of one family (the Telephoridse), 

 commonly called " soldiers " and " sailors," are known to every one. 



It is remarkable that beetles with so little defensive armour 

 should be warriors, but it is the fact that there are no such deter- 

 mined biters as these soft-bodied species. A single malacoderm 

 placed in the same bottle with other beetles will attack and maim 

 them all, even species double its own size. The collector is 

 therefore obliged to be very careful to isolate or to kill at once 

 specimens of this section. 



Perhaps one of the best known of all our British beetles — 

 although not generally suspected of being a member of the order — 

 belongs to this section. I mean the "glow-worm" [Lampyru 

 noctiluca). The insect which we call the "glow-worm" is an 

 apterous female beetle, the male of which is much smaller, and is 

 provided with ample wings. It is supposed that the female is 

 provided with her light to enable the male to find his mate. The 

 male will sometimes fly into a room at night attracted by lights 

 that may be burning there. 



Another species {Drihis flavescens), similar to the glow-worm in 

 that the male is winged and the female worm-like and apterous, 

 is to be found in grassy places at Dover, Darenth Wood, etc., 

 especially where snails abound, upon which the beetle is supposed 

 to feed. In this species the male is, where found, often abundant, 

 but the female is one of our greatest rarities. 



"We have about 150 species of Malacodermi in Great Britain, 

 very various in form and size. The antennae of the majority of 

 the species included in this section are long, filiform or serrate, 

 and generally with eleven joints, though the number varies from 

 ten to twelve. The tarsi are five-jointed, though with only four 

 joints in the front legs of the males of certain species. 



Some of the species cannot be strictly called malacoderms, their 

 integuments being more or less horny. 



7. The Heteeomeea. 



All the insects in this section have five joints to the tarsi of the 

 front and middle pairs of legs, and only four joints to those of the 

 hinder pair. Other pretty-constant features are kidney-shaped 

 eyes, exserted and clavate maxillary palpi, bifid mandibles, and 

 moniliform unelbowed antennae. The number of British species 

 included in it rather exceeds 100, and among them are insects very 

 dissimilar in external appearance. 



The " cellar" or "churchyard beetle" {Blaps mucronata) is one 

 well-known species. It is one of the slowest-moving insects I 

 know. Another of this section is well known in the larval state as 

 the " mealworm," a favourite food for singing birds, but perhaps the 

 beetle {Tenelrio) is not so well known except to millers. 



The "cardinal beetle" {Pyrochroa coccinea) is not uncommon 



