252 



COLi:OPTERA 



the under side of the head, and a moderate-sized pair with fine 

 facets on the upper side. Nothing is known as to the habits of 

 this curiosity, not even whether it is huiiinous in one or hoth sexes. 

 It is believed that the perfect instar of Lampyrides takes no 

 food at all. The larvae were formerly supposed to be vegetarian, 

 but it appears probable that nearly all are carnivorous, the chief 

 food being Mollusca either living or dead. The larvae are active, 

 and in many species look almost as much like perfect Insects as 

 do the imagos. 



Tlie other divisions of Malacodermidae — Lycides, Drilides, 

 Telephorides — also have predaceous, carnivorous larvae. All these 

 groups are extensive. Though much neglected by collectors and 

 naturalists, some 1500 species of the family Malacodermidae 

 have been detected. We have about 50 in Britain, and many 

 of them are amongst the most widely distributed and abundant 

 of our native Insects. Thus, however near they may be to the 

 primitive condition of Coleoptera, it is highly probable that they 

 will continue to exist alongside of the primitive Cockroaches and 

 Aptera, long after the more highly endowed forms of Insect-life 

 liave been extinguished wholesale by the operations of mankind 

 on the face of the earth. 



Fam. 55. Melyridae (or Malachiidae). — Six visible and move- 

 able ventral abdominal scijinenls.; the basal 2^art more or less distinctly 



co-ndarpted with the coxae. These 

 Insects are extremely numerous, 

 l)ut liave been very little studied. 

 In many works they are classified 

 with Malacodermidae, but were 

 correctly separated l)y Leconte 

 and Horn, and tliis view is also 

 taken l)y Dr. Yerhoeff, the latest 

 investigator. The smaller num- 

 ber of visible ventral segments 

 appears to be due to a change 

 at the base correlative with an 

 adaptation between the base of 

 the abdomen and the hind 

 coxae. The characters are singu- 

 larly parallel with those of 

 Silphidae ; l)ut in Melyridae the antennae are filiform or serrate, 



Fig. 130. — Malac/dus aeneus. Britaiu. 

 A, Larva (after Ferris) ; B, female 

 iiiiaso. 



