96 BRITISH BEETLES. 



under trees among dead leaves ; the species of Liodes are 

 not uncommon in the black dust of old fungoid growth on 

 trunks of trees, etc., in the north of England ; and the 

 Agathidia are conspicuous from their habit of rolling 

 themselves up into black shining balls. 



The SCAPHIDIID^ are represented in England by three 

 species of two genera, Scaphidium and Scaphisoma, the 

 former, found under logs of wood, in fungoid growth; 

 and the latter in agarics and decomposing wood. Both 

 are very agile, convex on the upper and under sides; rather 

 boat-shaped ; hard, shining, with very long and slender 

 legs, the intermediate and hinder pairs of which are far 

 apart ; the antennse, also, are exceedingly delicate in the 

 latter genus, the members of which are very small and 

 black ; Scaphidium being larger, with four red spots. 



The parts of the mouth are not conspicuously deve- 

 loped, the palpi (especially the labial pair), mandibles, 

 and labrum being small ; both lobes of the maxillae are, 

 membraneous ; the head is small and deflexed ; the 

 thorax fitting close to the elytra, and in Scaphisoma en- 

 larged behind in the middle so as to cover the scutellum ; 

 the elytra truncated obliquely at the tip, leaving the 

 apex of the abdomen exposed, having a sutural and 

 lateral stria, and being covered with irregular scratches ; 

 the anterior coxae exserted and approximated, the tarsi 

 5 -jointed, and the first segment of the abdomen very 

 large. 



The HISTERID.E are hard, polished insects, usually 

 square and stout in build, thick, but flat, or at most 

 slightly convex ; never pubescent ; generally black, though 

 sometimes spotted with red ; and having the head re- 

 tractile, and the antennae and legs capable of being closely 

 packed to the body. The antennae have the basal joint 



