HETEROMEROUS FUNGUS-BEETLES. 



125 



FFig, 



Family LIV. DIAPERID^. 



This small family is founded upon the genus 

 Diajteris, of Geoftroy, a term derived from a 

 Greek word meaning to pass through, and 

 suggested probably by the perfoliate charac- 

 ter of the antennte, in which the axis appears 

 to pass through the dilated joints ; or, the 

 name may have had reference to the habits 

 of the larvfB, in perforating the fungi upon 

 ^ ^ , which they feed. The short and more or less 



DlAPKiils HYDXi, Fabr. :— (J, larva; 



6, beetle ; c, umierside of head of lai- perfoliate charactcr of the antenufe, distin- 



Ta ; d, leg of same ; e, antenna of ' 



beetle— after Eiiey. guishcs thcsc iusccts froui all the othcr Hetcr- 



omera except the sub-family of Ulomides. Their other leading charac- 

 ters have been already described in si^eaking of the tribe which they 

 constitute. The following are the principal genera: 



A. Body some-what square-shaped and rough. First joint of tarsi very short. (Sub-family Bolito- 

 phagiden) Bolitoi'hagus, 4 sp. 



A A. Body oval and smooth. First joint of tarsi usually longer than the second. (Sub-family 2)ia- 



perides.) 



B. Antennae shorter than the thorax, and perfoliate. Last joint of maxillary palpi elongated. 

 C. Head unarmed. Ist joint of Liud tarsi as long as the 2d. Length of body quarter of an inch or 



upwards. Colors black, with reddish-j'ellow spots Diapekis, 2. 



C C. Head of the males usually with two horns or tubercles. 1st joint of hind tarsi as long as 2d 

 and 3d united. Length less than ^ inch. Color lilack or bronzed green, without spots. 



Thorax sometimes red Hoflocep hala, 2. 



B B. AntounsB longer than thorax, almost moniliform. Last joint of maxillary palpi triangular. 

 First joint of tarsi longer than 2d and 3d. Surface often pruiuose or mealy ; usually without 

 spots Platydem A, 14. 



The Bolitophagus cornutus, Panzer, is one of our most remarkable in- 

 sects. It is a thick-bodied beetle of a dark wood-brown color, and a 

 rough or tuberculated surface, and varying from less than four to nearly 

 five-tenths of an inch in length. The male is distinguished by two flat- 

 tened horns on the top of the thorax, which curve forwards, and which 

 are clothed on the under side with an orange pubescense. It is often 

 found under the bark of old stumps and prostrate logs. The genus Di- 

 aperis proper is represented in this country by the D. hydni, Fab., (Fig. 

 58,) which is common throughout the Middle and Eastern States. One 

 other species, the B. rufipes, Horn, is found in Arizona. ffoplocejyhaJa, 

 a term meaning armed head, in allusion to the horns on the heads of the 

 males, contains two species: the Z>iconm-, Oliv., wholly of a metallic- 

 green color, and the viridipennis, Fab., similar, but with a red thorax. 

 They are both a tenth of an inch long, or a little more. As the former 

 is described as sometimes having a brownish thorax, it is probable they 

 are only varieties of the same species. Platijdema contains fourteen 

 species, as indicated in Dr. Horn's Kevision of N. A. Tenebrionida^ of 

 which the four following are the most common : the americanum and 



