﻿88 BRITISH BEETLES. 



three longitudinal furrows^ and the abdomen shining; 

 the males have the apical segments of the abdomen be- 

 neath sinuatedj. notched, and tuberculated ; the females, 

 also, exhibiting a tendency to similar irregularities. 



The species of TrogopliloBUs, — diminutive, cylindrical, 

 dull-black, pubescent insects, with very short tarsi, — 

 occur in mud-banks and wet places, and have usually a 

 deep impression at the back of the thorax. Syntominm 

 (Biieum, a small, metallic, " stumpy " beetle, very strongly 

 punctured and slow of foot, and with three apical joints 

 of its antennae suddenly thickened, may be found under 

 dead leaves in sandpits. Lastly, the rare Acroynathus 

 and Deleaster, larger, rufo-testaceous species, live in 

 very wet places, in rotting leaves at the edges of ponds ; 

 the former is very sluggish, and seems swollen with the 

 water in which it soaks, but the latter flies readily, and 

 runs with great swiftness. 



The OmaliDjE have five-jointed tarsi; the protlio- 

 racic spiracles hidden ; the thorax membraneous be- 

 neath, behind the anterior coxse; the antennse inserted 

 under the lateral margin of the forehead, which margin 

 is not elevated ; the anterior coxse almost conic and ex- 

 serted, and the posterior transverse ; the maxillse armed 

 with a horny hook at the apex ; the elytra reaching be- 

 yond the mctathorax, and rounded at the outer hinder 

 corners ; and two ocelli on the middle of the head. They 

 are mostly soinewhat depressed, 'with long, slender 

 antennae ; and live in wet places, under seaweed, stones, 

 and bark, and in flowers. 



The species of AntJiopluigns, Geodromicus, and Lestevu, 

 on account of their long slender legs, long elytra, and 

 somewhat heart-shaped thorax, present considerable re- 

 sembkmce to certain of the ^xw^Xev Lebiides in the Geode- 



