166 SFRRICORNIA. [ Cleridee. 
considerably increased since the time at which the catalogue was pub- 
lished, and the Rev. H. 8. Gorham; who has done so much work at the 
group, informs me that the family now contains about one thousand 
species ; these are of very general distribution, but by far the majority 
are found in tropical countries; only thirteen genera, represented by 
fifty species, are found in Europe, of which six genera and only eleven 
species occur in Britain. 
The Cleride, taken as a whole, are a very striking family, many of 
them being exceedingly beautiful both as regards colour and form ; the 
body is elongate, with the thorax narrower than the elytra, and is often 
strongly pilose ; the head is prominent with the eyes very often emar- 
ginate, and the antenne are usually 11-jointed, and are either subfiliform, 
serrate, pectinate, or distinctly clavate (as in Corynetes), in the latter 
case forming a distinct transition between the Serricorn and Clavicorn 
groups ; in most of the species, however, the terminal joints have a 
tendency to form a club; the prosternum is short, and the anterior coxal 
cavities are open behind; the elytra, in nearly all cases, completely 
cover the abdomen, which is composed of either five or six ventral 
segments; the legs are more or less elongate, and the tarsi are 5-jointed, 
the first joint in some genera being covered by the second, and the 
fourth joint in others being exceedingly small and indistinct; the joints 
of the tarsi, with the exception cf the last, are either altogether or in 
part furnished with membranous appendages beneath, and the claws are 
simple or toothed; through their pilose body and lobed tarsi the 
members of the family bear a close relation to the Melyride. 
In the perfect state the Cleride are found on plants or on the trunks 
of trees, while a few live in dead animal matter ; in the larval state they 
are carnivorous, and prey upon various larve, some of them being found 
in bees’ nests, where they commit great havoc among the grubs; the 
colour of the larve as a rule is bright red or brownish, but some have the 
upper surface pink, or yellowish-white spotted with pink ; their surface 
is rather thickly covered with hairs ; the head iscorneous ; the antenne 
are inserted just above the articulation of the mandibles, and are made 
up of two short joints; there are five ocelli on each side; the pro- 
thorax has an entire scutum, but those of the meso- and metathorax are 
divided by a longitudinal line; the abdominal segments are fleshy, 
except the last, which bears a corneous scutum above armed with two 
projecting points, and a short anal appendage which is used for 
progression. 
Mr. Gorham, in the Biologia Centrali-Americana, divides the family 
into six sub-families, Tillides, Clerides, Phyllobenides, Hydnocerides, 
FEnopliides, and Corynetides ; three only of these are represented in 
our fauna, and it will perhaps be more convenient to regard them as 
tribes ; they may be distinguished as follows :— 
I. Tarsi plainly 5-jointed, with the first joint distinctly visible 
From Hows: Vie Se Ee Ge Reta et ee Ra RA 
