BEETLES. 



353 



Fu;. :iU7.— Tene- 

 hrio ohst'urus. 



metallie-ijreen coloi- witli bvowiiisli leys, is very roinmon on various l<iiiils of small 

 fungi growing on bark of dead trcrs ami ^tuIn|l^. The male is distinguislieil from tiie 

 female l)y two slender horns that surmount the head; the female has the general 

 aspect of a small siieeies of Chrysomelida'. The species of Platijdema are oval, some- 

 what flattened beetles, and have the first joint of tlie posterior tarsi Ioniser tlian the 

 second and third joints. Their lar\a' feed uiion fungi under liark. 



In the n'enus 2\ii(Jjr!o are included hlack, elongated, winged beetles, in which the 

 antenna' are gradually thickeneil toward the tip, the epipleurte entire, the legs slender, 

 and the entire insect of a dnll-lilack color. The larva of T. molitor is 

 the well-known uieal-worm, and .•ill ^tages of the insect are found al)0ut 

 ffranaries and Ijake-houses, where they are v<'ry destructive to stoi'ed 

 grain and all farinaceous matter. Some of the s|)ecies of I'eiitbrio aw 

 found about decaving woo<l, and t'hapuis .md Candeze write that these, 

 as well as other larva' of Tenebrionida', may be distinguished fr(.)m the 

 larva' of Elaterida' — the wiri'-wonns — which thev so closely resemlile, 

 "by the structure of their moutli-parts, tliat is liy the attachment of 

 the lobe to the liasal piece of the niaxillas ami by their \ isil)le clyjieus and labrum." 



Uplx cennnboides, a black beetle \\ itii slender legs, common in the eastern United 

 States, is about 0.7-') of an inch lon._;-. Its tlior.-ix is tinely punctate when examined 

 with a lens, although it appears sniiiolh to the naked eye; its elytra are deeply and 

 irregidarly indeuteil. It is found under b.ark, as is also fyhthiinus opacus, a beetle of 

 about the same size, which has Ixith thorax and elytra coarsely punctured. Al/cfobates 

 pi'/nisi//ra}iic'i, found in the same regions as [^pi.<: cerctmboides, resembles the latter in 

 form and size, but li.as elytra upon whii'h tine punctures are arranged in very regular 

 stria?. 



In Californi.-i .lud Arizon.-i are three genera — S/eiiofric/ius, Crat!di/.<, and Am- 

 pliklura — which, contrary to the geiu'ral rule in Teuebrionida', are densely pubescent 

 with long, erect hair; the species are .all wingless. One of the largest of these pubes- 

 cent species is Cratidiis oscidan.f, which is about O.ii of an. inch lonir, black, densely 

 punctate, and out of each minute depression arises an erect brown hair. 



Ships and J^leodi^s, two well-known genera of the Tenebrionidje, lielong to a group 

 in which the <-oiiu:ite elytra ]iartly embrace the body, and in 

 which the tarsi are spinose or setose beneath. Blaps is a genus 

 containing numerous species distributed over Europe, northern 

 Africa, and western Asia. £. hiorfismjii, a common European 

 species, has been introduced into America, and is abundant at Alex- 

 andria, Va. It is about an inch long, entirely black, and is found 

 in cellars, c;iverns, and other obscure places, where it feeds upon 

 animal refuse. The larva of Blaps is similar to that of l^enebrio, 

 but larger, and Ii\-cs in obscure nooks. Eleodes contains about 

 fifty species, which are all found iti the western United States, 

 where they devotir excrement and dead matter, and seem to fill 

 the ])lace occu]iied in the eastern hemisphere by Blaps. Some of 

 the species of Eleodes are quite large, E. obscura., a robust species, and E. (jigantea^ 

 a slenderer species with long legs, being about 1 ."25 inches long. 



Dr. (t. H. Horn stated in 18G7 that certain Californian species of Eleodes, when 

 disturbed, elevate the abdomen nearly vertically, and if seized discharge an oily fluid 

 from the aljdomen. An analogous disagreeably odorous secretion is used as a defence 



VOL. II. — 23 



Fig. 39S. — Blap.< mor- 

 fistuia. 



