THE NECROPHAGA, OR CLAVICORNES. 103 



but this club appears to be a compound of two joints, so 

 that the normal number of eleven is accounted for. 



The CUCUJID^E have five ventral segments to the ab- 

 domen, all of which are free ; the tarsi either all five- 

 jointed in both sexes, or with four joints to the posterior 

 in the male, and their antennae filiform or with a club 

 at the apex. They mostly live under bark, and are ge- 

 nerally rare ; the little spotted Psammaechus, however, 

 occurs commonly in marshy places ; and Silvanus and 

 Nausibius (both very like Monotomd) comprise species 

 for the greater part introduced here from abroad. The 

 diminutive Lamophlcei (in which the maxillae are hooked) 

 are found (often gregariously) in small twigs, and under 

 bark. 



The CRYPTOPHAGID^E have the antennas eleven-jointed 

 and clubbed ; the legs far apart, with the anterior coxse 

 globose, and the posterior cylindric; the tarsi either 

 five-jointed in both sexes, or with those of the hinder 

 legs four-jointed in the male ; the elytra entire ; and the 

 abdomen composed of five segments, all of which are 

 free, the first being rather longer than the others. 



The species are all small, mostly oblong or elliptic, and 

 generally pubescent. The Cryptophagi (Plate VI, Fig. 

 1, Cryptophagus scanicus) are found in vegetable refuse, 

 fungi, and flowers ; they are difficult to determine, but 

 good characters are to be found in the anterior angle of 

 the thorax, and in the position and development of a 

 tooth on the side between that angle and the base. The 

 species of Atomaria are very small : they also occur in 

 vegetable refuse, often harbouring in dry dung, and 

 have been described by Mr. T. V. Wollaston in the 

 Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 

 (vol. iv. n. s., part iii. 1857). 



