COLEOPTERA. — HISTERID^E. 181 



The second family, Histerid.e* Leach., corresponding with the Lin- 

 naean genus Hister, is one of the most natural groups of beetles, 

 distinguished by the very hard consistence of the body, which is ge- 

 nerally of a square or oblong-quadrate form, and with a highly-polished 

 surface (^Jig- 17. 19. Hister 4-notatus). The antennae are short, 

 strongly elbowed at the extremity of the long basal joint, and termi- 

 nated by a large and solid club, composed of three joints, closely sol- 

 dered together (^"V/. 17. 23.) ; the mandibles are very robust, horny, 

 and exserted {fig. 17. 20.); the maxilla? i^fig. 17. 21.) are elongated, 

 bilobed, the lobes being strongly setose ; the labium (^fig- 17. 22.) is 

 bipartite and setose ; and the palpi are filiform ; the prosternum is 

 often produced in front like a neckcloth ; the legs are more or less 

 dentate, the two posterior pairs being inserted widely apart ; the 

 elj'tra are generally short and truncate, leaving the extremity of the 

 abdomen exposed. 



Like the insects of the preceding family, the Histeridae have the 

 power of contracting their limbs and counterfeiting death, whence 

 their names o? 3Iimic Beetles, and Hister, the latter evidently derived 

 from the Latin word Histrio, a stage mimic. 



These insects are of small size, seldom exceeding one third of an 

 inch in length; their colours are generally black and shining; some 

 few have the elytra ornamented with blood-coloured, or pale buff spots, 

 and a few exhibit metallic tints. They feed upon decaying vegetable 

 and animal matter, and are found very abundantly in the spring in 

 the dung of horses and cows; other species, whose flattened bodies 



* ElULlOGIl. TO THE HlSTERID,-E. 



Paykull. Mon. Hister. Ups. 1811. 8vo. 



Leach, in Zool.Misc. vol. iii. 



Erichson, in King's Jahrb. der Ent. vol. i. 18;J4. 



Sturm. Deutclis. Fanna. 



Kugellan, in Schneider's I\Iag. vol. i. 



Thunhcrg. Coleopt. Capensia, INIem. Acad. St. Petersburg, t. vii. 1820. 



MacLeaij, in Hone Ent. 



Leach, in Plymouth Transactions (N. G. Abbottia). 



Gutriii and PcrcheroH, Gen. des Ins. pi. 17. 



Griffith. An. K. 



Kirbtj, in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xii. 



Say, in Journ. Acad. Philadelphia, vol. v. (Mon. N. Amer. Histerida;.) 



Germar, Mag. vol. i. and iv., and Ins, Spec. Nov. 



Stephens, GylleuhaU, §t. 



N 3 



