LAND SCAVENGER-BEETLES, 01 



linen an<l cotton tiilnics. They aresonietina'S (jnite injurious to caipi'ts 

 whilst lyin<;- upon the iioor. We ha\e known them to select a particu- 

 lar stripe, especially one of red tlannel, in the domestic fabric known 

 as ra^-carpet, and follow it out into the middle of tlie room, f^nawin^ it 

 olf at intervals. They have to be treated upon general principles, no 

 specific remedy, we believe, having been discovered. Some very sipall 

 species, belonging to the genus Anthrenus, are very destructive to cab- 

 inets of natural history. Other small species are found on llowers. 



Family XII. MYCETOPHAGID^. 



Founded upon the genus Mycetopliagus^ a word which means a mush- 

 roomeatcr, and therefore indicates the habits of the family. They are 

 fi'''-~-'l small, or very small, oval, moderately convex, 



pubescent, and usually prettily marked in- 

 sects. This is one of the families of small 

 Coleopterous insects in which the number of 

 tarsal joints is very variable, not unfrequently 

 MYCKToi'HAr.fsr-i. beetle; 2, an- differing iu tlic scxcs of the same si)e(ues. 

 ^r^);\"^r^o/n^.;d\f ,ol' The only preceding family with which it is 



5^^posterior tar8U8-atter West- j-^^j^ ^^ ^^ COUfoUUdcd, is that of the :Nitidu- 



lida' ; but it differs : first, in the antenna', which are knobbed in }s itidu- 

 lidie, and usually gradually clavate in the jMycetophagidiC ; second, in 

 the elytra, which cover the whole abdomen in the latter, and are almost 

 always truncated, though often but very slightly in the former ; and 

 thirdly, in the character of the pubescence or down upon the surface, 

 which is scarcely perceptible or wanting in the former, whereas the 

 Mycetophagidic are densely clothed with prostrate hairs. They are 

 also more uuiforndy and conspicuously spotted than the Nitidulidie, the 

 elytra usually exhibiting yellow spots or bauds on a brown or blackish 

 ground. 



Our largest species is the .V. j^unctafus, Say, upwards of two-tenths 

 of an inch in length, blackish ; elytra reddish-yellow, with a large black 

 spot including the scutellum, another at the side, and another near but 

 not including the tip. 



3f.,//('.rj<o.SMS, Say, is three-twentieths of an inch in length, blackish; 

 elytra redish-yellow ; a large transverse black spot on the region of the 

 scutellum ; a small rounded one on the shoulder; a large irregular one 

 on the side, sometimes extending to the suture, and a large black spot 

 on the tip, enclosing a small fulvous spot. 



About twenty N. A. species are known. 



