SCYDM^NID^. 



439 



The larv.ie are cvustaceous, flattened, with the sides of the 

 body ofteu serrated, black, and of a fetid odor. They undergo 

 their transformations in an oval cocoon. In Necrophoriis (Fig. 

 346, N. Americanus Oliv.) the antennaB have ten apparent 

 joints, and tlie rounded chib is 

 four-jointed. The genus SU2)Jta, of 

 which S. Lapponica Herbst (Fig. 

 383, larva fully grown ; 384, young, 

 from Labrador) is a common spe- 

 cies, differs in tlie third joint of 

 the antenna being no longer than 

 the second, but shorter than the 

 first. In Necrojylulus the third joint 

 is as long as the first. N. Surina- 

 mensis Fabr. has a yellow thorax 

 with a central irregular black spot. 

 Catops and its allies live in fungi, 

 carrion and ants' nests, and are 

 small, black, oval insects. The ^'^- •^^•^• 

 Fig. 384. eyeless Adelops hirtus Tellk. is blind, wanting the 

 eyes, and is found in Mammoth Cave. Anisotoma and allies, 

 with eleven-jointed antennae, are oval and sometimes hemis- 

 pherical, and capable of being rolled up into a ball. 

 They are of small size and found in fungi, or under 

 the bark of dead trees. Agathidium (Fig. 385, larva 

 of the European A. seminulum) has the club of the 

 antennae three-jointed. Clamhns and allies comprise 

 exceedingly minute species, found in decaying vege- 

 table matter. 



An aberrant form is Brathinus, two species of which. 

 B. nitidus Lee. and B. varicornis Lee, haA'e been 

 found from Lake Superior to Nova Scotia, about the ^'^ ^*'- 

 roots of grass in damp places. According to Leconte, they arr 

 small shiny insects of graceful form, and distinguished by the 

 prominent middle coxse. 



ScYDMvENiDiE Leach. The species of this small group differ 

 from the PselapJiidce to which they are closely allied by their 

 long elytra and distant conical posterior coxae. They are mi- 



