172 



DARKLING BEETLES. 



FAMILY TENEBRIONIDAE. 



{Darkling Beetles). 



Nearly all the nieml)ers of this family are of a miiform hlack 

 or l)rown color, although some are gray, and a few are marked 

 with bright colors. There is no uniformity in appearance, Init 

 in most cases the feelers are more or less bead-like or monili- 

 form. They vary very considerably in size and form of the body, 

 which is firm, and not sftft as in the case of the blister-beetles men- 

 tioned later. Darkling-beetles are most numerous in dry and 

 warm regions, but we also possess a fair representation in Min- 

 nesota, and some of them are altogether too numerous and in- 

 jurious. Nearly all feed upon dry vegetable matter, some few 

 on partly decomposed matter, and still others under stones, un- 

 der bark of trees, and on fungi. But few are injurious to our 

 fruit-producing plants. 



As examples of such beetles a few of the more common and 

 destructive ones will be given and illustrated. 



The AIea:.-eeetle, {Tcnchrio iiiolitor Linn.), Fig. 178, is a 

 very common insect in our mills, stables, grocery-stores, pan- 



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Fig. 17S.—Tenebrio molitor, Linn.— .\lter Division of Entoiuologv, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



