470 



COLEOPTERA. 



Fig. 4;ii). 



with small scales as in tlie genera alluded to." Cttpes capitata 

 Fabr. is black ^vitli the head red ; while Ciq^es cinerea Say is 

 pale gray, with darker lines. They are found under the bark 

 of decaying trees, and also occasionally in houses. (Leconte.) 



Ptinid^ Leach. These are small beetles, often of an ob- 

 scure brown color, somewhat oval in shape, and truncated 

 behind ; the nine-jointed filiform antennae are inserted on the 

 front, or sides of the front ; the head is reti'actile, frequently 



protected by the prothorax ; the 

 labrum is distinct ; the maxilhe 

 have two ciliate lobes, and the 

 maxillar}^ palpi are short and 

 four-jointed. The legs are slen- 

 der, contractile, and the insect 

 when disturbed draws them up 

 and feigns death. In Ptinus 

 the antennse are inserted on the 

 front ver}'^ close together, the 

 legs are long, not contractile, with large trochanters ; the teeth 

 of the mentum are acute, and the labrum is rounded. The 

 males ditfer from the short and thickened females in being long 

 and narrow. The beetles are found about out-houses, the wood 

 of which they perforate in various directions. Ptinus fur Linn. 

 (Fig. 439 ; a, larva), the most commonly diffused 

 species, is known to attack museums and collec- 

 tions of insects. It is .15 of an inch in length, 

 and uuiformty chestnut brown in color. The larva 

 here figured was found eating the dried contents 

 of a shell in the Museum of the Feabody 

 Academy of Science. 



Sitodrejm panicea Fabr. (Fig. 440, pupa) is a 

 small insect like Anobium, of a pale reddish 

 brown color, with much paler dense hairs. It is .13 of an inch 

 long. The larva resembles in its form that of Ptinus, but the 

 body is much thicker, not growing smaller towards the head 

 as in tliat genus ; the end of the body is smooth, obtusely 

 rounded, with fine hairs ; it is .08 of an inch long and un- 

 doubtedly grows larger. It occurred in all its stages and in 



