PREDACEOUS GROUND-BEETLES. 37 



Sub-sec. IV. Pectinicomes. Antenu?e pectinate or coinb-tootbed 

 Tribe G. Stag beetles. 

 Family : Liicanidfe. 



SuB-SEC. V. Lamellicornes. Antennae lamellate. Food-habits 

 diifereut in the two tribes. 

 Tribe 7. Lamellicorn dung-beetles. {JExcrementivora lamelUcor- 

 nia.) Saprophaga, MacLeay. 



Families : Coprid^ie ; AphodiidfB ; Geotrupidte ; Trogidae. 

 Tribe 8. Lamellicorn leaf-beetles. {Rerbivora lameUieornia.) 

 ThalerophagtA, MacLeay. 



Families: Dynastidte; Eutelidte; Melolonthidpe 5 Cetoniidse. 

 Sub-sec. VL Serri comes. Antennae usually more or less ser- 

 rate or saw-toothed. Food-habits various. 

 Tribe 9. Saw horned wood-beetles. {Lignwora serrieornia.) 

 Sternoxi, Latreille. 

 Families : Buprestidaj ; Elateridae ; Cebrionidae. 

 Tribe 10. Aberrant wood-beetles. {Lignivora dberrantia.) 



Families : Ptinida? ; Cupesidoe ; Lymexylonidas. 

 Tribe 11. Soft- winged i)redaceous beetles. (Garnivora moUipen- 

 nata.) Malacodermi, Latreille. 

 Families : Lampyridse ; Melyridte ; Cleridse. 



Piist Sub-section, JETTLICOHlNrES. 



Antenna? filiforiu ; palpi apparently six ; habits predaceous. 



Tribe I. 



PEEDACEOUS GEOUND-BEETLES. 



Garnivora terrestria. Geodephaga,* MacLeay. 



This extensive tribe of beetles is distinguished by their slender and 

 filiform, or slightly tapering antennte, in connection with their five- 

 jointed tarsi or feet, all the joints always being distinct even in the 

 smallest species ; by having apparently six palpi ; and by the promi- 

 nence of their large egg-shaped posterior trochanters, which furnish a 

 very distinctive and easily recognized character, and which no other 

 coleopterous insects possess so conspicuously developed. (See Fig. 3, on 

 page 27.) No insects have strictly more than four palpi, and the appar- 

 ent additional pair which is peculiar to this and the following tribe, are 

 really the outer lobes of the maxill* which are here palpiform. They 

 are almost exclusively carnivorous in their diet, and pre-eminently pre- 

 daceous in their habits, both in the larva and the perfect states. They 



* From the Greek y^ the earth, and ad-Qfdyoq ravenous. 



