160 ISIt. H. "W. Bates on the EncIomycliidoD of the Amazon Valley. 



single one in the centre of eacli abdominal one ; the sides of the 

 mesothorax have each three long corneous spines, and the lateral 

 margin of each of the first five abdominal segments is prolonged 

 into a large trilobed fleshy process. 



The larva of Stenotarsus ohtusus (PI. XI. fig. 6) is oblong-oval, 

 widest behind ; it is beset with long and fine pale haii's ; eight of 

 the abdominal segments have their lateral margins prolonged on each 

 side into an obtuse lobe. The colour is fulvous, each of the thoracic 

 segments having two large discoidal black spots, and the sides of the 

 abdomen are occupied by a broad stripe of black, leaving a broad 

 central vitta fulvous, through which runs a fine dorsal black line. 

 The body is not so convex as that of C. discoideus ; the prothorax is 

 much longer, being semich'cular, rounded in front instead of emar- 

 ginate. The antennae are similar in shape to those of the Coryno- 

 malus, but they are more slender, and there is no trace of the second 

 apparent basal joint. I did not dissect the mouth. 

 . I foimd these larvae feeding in company with the perfect insects at 

 different times on the minute fungous, or perhaps lichenous substance 

 on the surface of old damp dead wood ; either broken branches of 

 forest trees, old barked stumps or palings around plantations, in the 

 forest at Ega. When about to change, the larva (of Corynomalus) 

 attaches itself by the tip of the abdomen to the surface of the wood, 

 sometimes seeking a cre\iee for the piu'pose. The pupae are thus 

 found in clusters of numerous individuals near the places where the 

 perfect insects are feeding. 



"With regard to the habits of the perfect insects, the whole family 

 feed on fungi, and seem to prefer the smaller fungous growths ; they 

 are slow in motion (probably, like most other tropical Coleoptera, 

 they are more active at night, but they do not come to lamps) and 

 gregarious. Many species are amongst the commonest of tropical 

 beetles, and are found wherever there is old dead wood in or near 

 the forest. They are not usually found in the large woody Boleti, 

 but almost always on small Boleti of loose tcxtiu-e, or on very- 

 minute, scarcely perceptible fungi. Neither are they seen on the 

 very large fungi which grow in immense masses, springing up and 

 decaying with great rapidity in the wet seasons on dead wood in the 

 humid shades of the forest. These are more especially the food of 

 the large ErotyUdae, which exist in equatorial America in great pro- 

 frision both as to individuals and species. Many of the smaller 

 species, especially of the genera Epopteriis, Anidrytus, PhaJantha, 

 ikc, are found only on slender dead twigs, which are generally spotted 

 with minute fungi. 



