BEETLES. 387 



The larvw of this family usunlly livi' in similar places to those frequented by the 

 images; ami, wiiile iheir haliits ami life history have been little studied in com]>arison 

 with other families of e([ual size, there is great and interesting variety in their habits. 

 Some of the S])eeies live under l)ark, othei-s eat fungi, many live about decaying plants 

 and the excrements of higher animals. C^uite a number are found in the nests of ants, 

 but the exact relations which they hold to the ants are not yet determined. Mr. E. A. 

 ■Schwarz has found si)ecies of Stajihyliuiihe in Texas in the nests of white ants {'I'er- 

 mes), which, as will be recollected, are not Hymenoptera, as are the true ants. Qnedius 

 dilatatus breeds in hornets' nests in Europe, and will also eat honey. Microglotla 

 nidlcola frequents the nests of bank-swallows in Fi'ance, and Mr. F. S. Sprague dis- 

 covered that Aleorliui-'i iiiitln>ii)i/iii\ in the eastern United States, was parasitic in the 

 cnI)l)a<j;e-niaggot (larva of ^{ntJioiDi/la l/rassicu). Heeger found that (Ti/riiphmna 

 manca oviposits on leaves of plants. The larva-, wlien first hatched, eat the eggs of 

 mites, and later devour the larval niitcs themselves, thially pupating in moist earth. 

 In .1 termitophilous South American genus the abdomen is soft, very much enlarged, 

 and thrown upwanls and forwards so as to hide the thorax. The eogs of these curious 

 insects deveIo]i into larva-, while still in the abdomen of the female, a fact first discov- 

 ered by the late Professor Schicidte of Copeuliagen, who, on account of its viviparous 

 habits, named the genus Corotoca. 



The I'ather robust species of O.iu/poriis are found in fungi. The head is large, the 

 eyes small, the long mandibles are not dentate, and the abdomen is strongly margined. 

 O. vittatiis is about 0.25 of an inch long, ami black above with a light-brown longitu- 

 dinal stripe covering nearly the whole of each elytron, and the margin of the abdo- 

 men is brown. It is counnou in the northeastern United States on species of Ar/aricus. 

 The species of Puderi's .are combinations of red and deep metallic blue in coloration, 

 and are fomid under chips and stoiu-s in moist places. In P. riparius the head, elytra, 

 and tij) of the abdomen are blue, the rest of the insect for the most ]iart red. It is 

 about 0.3 of an inch long, ami iidirdiits both Europe and America. In similar moist 

 localities, as those in which Pathrits is foun<l, live numerous s]iecies of Sfows, a 

 genus of small Staphylinida', which have very ]u-ominent eves, a broad head, narrow 

 prothorax, and wide sub(|uadr.ate elytra. 



The largest s])ecies of this family are members of the tribe Sta])hvlinini. The 

 genus Staphi/liiinK contains species often of considerable size. <S'. r/>acido,iHs, common 

 in the eastern ]iart of Xorth American, is from 0.7 to 1 inch long, is dull brown, 

 densely punctatt-, and the tip of the pubescent abdomen is lighter lirown. Of about the 

 same size, and found iji the same localities, is Leistntrophux cingtdatiis. This species 

 is brown, speckled witli brownish-black spots, and the apical portion of its abdomen is 

 clothed with golden pubescence. It differs generically from Sfapln/linns in having 

 the fourth joint of the maxillary palpi shorter than the third. Differing from the 

 last-mentioned geuer.a, in having the thorax without punctures, are the tjenera Creo- 

 p/iihis and Tliiuopiniif!. ('. r!Uo.vis. the only North American species, is widely dis- 

 tributed o\er the comilry. It is from 0.5 to 0.9 of an inch lone, of a black ground 

 color marked with gray pubescence, especially upon the margins of the abdo- 

 men and in a band across the elytra. (I ma.rillosu.K, from Euro]ie, is a very similar 

 species to C. vidosus. T/ii!70]nnu..<; pictiix, which lives below high-water mark on 

 the shores of the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to southern California, is from 0.55 

 to 0.75 of an inch long, of a yellowish-brown color, spotted above with dark brown 

 and lilack. 



