SCYDMTENID^. 



439 



The larviB are criistaceous, flattened, with the sides of the 

 body often serrated, bhTck, and of a fetid odor. They undero-o 

 their transformations in an oval cocoon. In Necropliorus {¥\o-. 

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



^^^---^^^^ joints, and the rounded clnb is 

 '=^'^mJL_^^ four-jointed. The genus Silpha^ of 

 which >S'. Lajyponica Ilerbst (Fig. 

 383, larva fully grown ; 384, young, < 

 from Lal)rador) is a common spo- ZL 

 cies, diflTers in the third joint of \L-- 

 the antenna being no longer than kr 

 the second, but shorter than the a~ 

 first. In Necrojjhihis the third joint C~ 

 is as long as the first. N. Surina- ^ 

 mensis Fabr. has a yelloAv 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 liirtus Tellk. is blind, wanting the 

 eyes, and is found in Mammoth Cave. Am'sotoma and allies, 

 with eleven-jointed antenna?, are oval and sometimes hemis- 

 pherical, and capable of being rolled up into a hc.W. 

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

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

 of tlie European A. seminnlum) has the club of the 

 antennjB three-jointed. Clainhns and allies comprise 

 exceedingly minute species, found in decaying vege- 

 table matter. 



An aberrant form is BmtJiimcs, two species of which, 

 B. nitidus Lee. and B. varicornis Lee, have 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 coxae. 



ScYDM/ENiD^ Leach. The species of this small group differ 

 from the Pselaphidm to which they are closely allied by their 

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



