COLEOPTERA. SPIIiERIDIIDy?':. 



129 



philida;, arising from the general structure of the body, the form of the 

 antennae, and more especially of the parts of the mouth, and produced 

 sternum {^fig. 9. 7.). Their habits are, however, different ; since they 

 frequent putrescent vegetable matter which has passed through the 

 bodies of animals, the excrement of horses and cows being their chief 

 abode, over which, when recently ejected, they may be seen hovering 

 in troops, and in which they burrow by the assistance of their spinose 

 tibicE. Their legs are not formed for swimming, although some of the 

 species (Cercyon heiemorrhoidale, obscurum, anale, &c.)are subaquatic, 

 which, doubtless, induced Fabricius to place them in the genus Hy- 

 drophilus, whilst at the same time (thus confirming the relationship of 

 the families) his Sphaeridium dytiscoides belongs to the Hydrophilidas ; 

 and his Hydrophilus orbicularis has recently been formed into the 

 genus Crclostoma by M. Brulle^ and placed in the present family. 

 Mr. MacLeay has also named a Javanese species, Sphasridium hy- 

 drophiloides. The body is generally broad, rounded, and convex or 



Fi<i. 9. 



globose (Jiff- 9. l. Splutridium scarabaeoides) ; the tarsi are distinctly 

 5-jointed, the terminal joint being very large in the anterior pair and 

 dilated, especially in the males {Jff/. 9. 5. anterior, 9. G. posterior tarsi) ; 

 the mentum is very large and transverse (Jiff. 9. 3. ; Jtf/. 9. 4. the max- 

 illa; terminated by a large pilose lobe), and the antenna; are terminated 

 by a large 3-jointcd club (Jiff. 9. 2.) ; the labrum is short and trans- 

 verse, and the maxillary palpi are as long as the antennae (Jiff. 9. 4.). 

 The larvai of none of the species of this family have hitherto been 

 observed. From the very few individuals brought from tropical 

 regions, it may be inferred that their metropolis is within the northern 

 temperate clime. It may, indeed, be questioned whether Nature 



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