BEETLES. 



351 



Fig. 3!I4. — Mnrriella 

 ornata. 



Fig. 305. — .Unr 

 della octnpuuc- 

 lata. 



sucked the juices entirely out of tlie wa.<p-l:irva, and pupates in its cell. The wliole 



process requires from twelve to fourteen days, and the beetle emern-es two days later 



than the wasjis in the same row of cells. ^Ljoditeii suhdlpferus, 



another Eurojican species, has been reared from nests of Ilalliius 



sexcinctus. Ji/iiji/iidins, a Eurojiean genus, has lar\iform females 



without wings or elytra; its larva^ are parasitic in the abdomen 



of cockroaches. 



The MoEDELLin.E are beetles similar in general appearance to 

 those of the last-described family, but they differ from those of that 

 family in having a distinct lateral suture of the thorax, and in having 

 filiform antennae The larva> of the Mordcllida» arc nut jiarasitic 

 as are those of the three preceding families, but live in fungi or 

 twigs; the larvaOiavc sliort legs, on which the joints are nut dis- 

 tinctly indicated. The beetles themselves are of small size, and, 

 like the IJhipiphoridi'e, are found on flowers. 



Very tVw of the American species of this family have been reared. 

 "Sir. X. T. Chambers has reared a species of Murdclla from a larva 

 feeding in pith of Te)wio)ii((, and mentions the occurrence of similar 

 larva' in the galls of Gelcrliia (/<iU(r>solklagiiiis on fiioUJago. 



The AxTHUiD.E, a family of beetles mostly of snmll size, are gen- 

 erally found on flowers, although some species are inhaliitants of sandy 

 places near the water. These beetles have the head constricted behind 

 the eyes, the lateral suture of the narrow prothorax is wanting, the 

 rounded <Oytra cover the entire alxlouuMi. In JVofrwiis and Anthiciis, two genera 

 with numerous species, the head is deflexed and narrowed behind the oval, coarsely- 

 gramdated eyes. In Kotoxvs the prothorax extends out over the head in a sort of 

 horn; in Ant/iicus there is no pmthor.acic licirn; and in the ant-like genus Formico- 

 mus, which is closely related to Anthiats, wings are absent. But little is known of 

 the life history of the Antliieida>. Tanarthvus sa/inus, from the Colorado desert- 

 lands, and from T'tah, runs and flies along the salt mud much in tlir same way as do 

 species of Cicindc/ii. 



The family of the Texkukioxiilb, as usually limited, includes between four and 

 five thousand kinds of beetles, mostly of rather somln-e coloration, although a few 

 species are marked with red or are bronzed. Le Conte and Horn say that, "This 

 family contains a large numljer of genera, possessing in common very few cliaracters, 

 yet linked together by such gradual changes in structure that their classification pre- 

 sents almost insuperable difficulties." The beetles of this family have, according to 

 the above-named authors, simi)le claws, anterior coxal cavities closed behind, five 

 ventral segments which are in part connate, and the penultimate joint of the tarsi not 

 spongy beneath. They may be divided into three sub-families. These are the Tene- 

 bi-ioniua?, having the thinl and fourth ventral segments with a coriaceous posterior 

 margin; the Asidiuji?, having the ventral segments entirely corneous and the middle 

 coxa? with a distinct trochantin ; and the Tentyriina?, having the ventral segments 

 entirely corneous, as in the Asidina^ but the middle coxa? without trochantin. 



The larva^ of Tenebriouida^ are elongated, often resembling, in a general way, the 

 so-called 'wire-worms,' the larvae of Elaterida\ The larva^ have four-jointed anteun.-p, 

 five-jointed legs, are ]U-ovi<led with from two to five ocelli on each side of the lu'ad, 

 and often have a pair of anal a|ipcuilages to aid in locomotion. The larva? feed upon 



