144 



INSECTS AT HOME. 



genus are — to use a word which I do not like to apply to 

 insects — ugly. They are dull, dead-black in colour, are won- 

 derfully sluggish, crawling slowly as if afflicted with rheum- 

 atism, and always frequenting damp, dark, and dismal places. 

 Being often found in the murkiest crannies of cellars, they have 

 gained the popular and appropriate title of Cellar Beetles. 



XV 



^;^ptx;cca:^c::^ 



1. Blaps mortisaga. 2. Diaperis boleti. 3. Tenebrio molitor. 4. Mdandrya caraboides, 



6. Orchesia undulata. a. Blaps, larva. b. Melandrya, lurva. c. Tenebrio, larva. 



d. Blaps, antenna. e. Diaperis, antenna. /. Tenebrio, antenna. </. Melandrya, antenna. 

 h. Orchesia, antenna. 



The species represented in the illustration may be recognised 

 by the 'bold puncturing and contracted base of the thorax, and 

 the lengthened projection at the apex of the elytra. It is not 

 so generally plentiful as the second species, Blaps mucronata, 

 being seldom found in the southern parts of England. Still 

 these species are very similar in their habits. They are 

 possessed of a very nauseous odour, suggestive of dwelling 



