﻿78 BRITISH BEETLES. 



Trichophya aud Habrocerus are conspicuous from 

 their hair-like antennse, which are adorned with slender 

 rings of hairs^ resembling microscopic Equisetum : the 

 former is found plentifully in the corridors of the Crystal 

 Palace at Sydenham, wdiither it flies from its haunts 

 among the fir-trees at Shirley, etc. 



The Tachini, moderately large, flat, and stout-looking 

 (but fragile), abound in rotten fungi and dung, being also 

 often taken, at the fermenting sap of cut-down trees. 



They present admirable characters for specific dia- 

 gnosis in the very pronounced teeth and notchings of the 

 upper and under sides of the sub-apical segment of the 

 abdomen, which is dififerent in the two sexes. In order 

 to obtain a clear outline of this structure, it is as well to 

 remove the extreme apical segment of specimens showing 

 the upper and under surface of each sex. 



The species of Tachijporus, small, shining, flattish, 

 and more or less yellow marked with black, exhibit some- 

 what similar sexual characters. They are difficult to de- 

 termine, owing to their want of punctuation, and are 

 generally abundant in moss and wet places. The Boli- 

 tobii, gaily coloured (Plate IV, Fig. 2, Bolitobius airica- 

 pillus) and very active species, occur in profusion in 

 fungi in the autumn. English descriptions of all our 

 species will be found in the first volume of the ' Ento- 

 mologist's Monthly Magazine,' by the present writA*. 

 Lastly, the members of the genus Mycetoporus, smaller 

 and narrower than the Bolitobii, are found sometimes in 

 moss, but more usually in sand-pits, etc., during the 

 early spring. The position and number of certain deep 

 punctures on the elytra and sides and front of the thorax 

 will assist in determining the species of this genus. 



The Q.UEDIID.E (usually considered a subfamily of the 



