58 



THE ORDER OF COLEOPTERA. 



[Fig. 19. J 



The Kecropliorus Anicrieanus is nearly au inch and a half in length. 

 The other species do not exceed an inch, and a few of the smaller spe- 

 cies scarcely exceed half an inch in length. Silpha 

 Americana has the thorax broadly margined with 

 yellow ; S. marginata has the thorax margined Avith 

 red; S. inequalis [Fig. 18] is wholly black; S. caudata 

 has adnll bronze thorax, and btack elytra, with many 

 small tubercles. The Necrodes surinamensis is black, 

 with a reddish spot near the end of each elytron, and 

 the elytra strongly carinated or ridged. Necrodes 

 differs from Silpha in having a more elongated 



ITecropiioiius : - 

 niP : 2, tarsus 



3, 



froTu "heiieath— after form, and the antcnnsB with a greater number of 



Wostwood. ,. T , • . , 



perfoliate joints. 



Family VIII. SCAPHIDIID^. 



From the genus Scaphidium of Olivier, a name meaning a little sMff 

 or boat, and given to these insects on account of their fancied resem- 

 blance to a boat, being thickest and arched in the middle, and narrowed 

 towards each end, the head being rery small, and the tip of the abdo- 

 men being conical and pointed, and projecting beyond the end of the 

 wing-cases. The first abdominal segment is unusually long. These are 

 small, shining-black insects found in fungi and rotten wood. They 

 move rapidly, but with an uneven or skipping gait. They constitute a 

 very small family, only seventeen N. A. species having been described 

 at the present time. 



Family IX. HISTERID^. 



Founded upon the genus Ulster of Linnaeus, a term borrowed from 

 the Latin Jiister, or histrio, meaning a stage actor or mimic, and applied 

 [Fig.ao.j to these insects on account of their *habit of persistently 

 feigning death when captured ; a habit, however, which 

 ,2 they have in common with many other Coleoptera. They 

 are mostly small, short, rounded or somewhat square- 

 shaped beetles, of a verj^ hard consistency, and a glossy 

 black color, very rarely marked with a few red spots. They 



nisThU:— 1, bee- ,.,'-.. • , -, , , . ,, , n -, . , 



tie natural are lurther distinguished by their small heads, winch can 



size ; a, aiiteu- t ■ ' i , . . 



n(u of same oc rctractcd into the thorax, so as to be nearly or quite in- 

 ter"westwoo(i. visible ', and also, by their truncated or shortened wing- 

 cases, leaving the two last abdominal segments exposed. They live in 

 the excrement of animals, and other decomposing substances, mostly 

 animal, but sometimes vegetable. 

 Number of described N. A. species, one hundred and eighty-four. 



