THE MALACODERMI. 137 



places, beating in sallows, etc. ; and are extremely diffi- 

 cult to obtain in good condition, on account of their 

 slender and slightly articulated limbs, which often come 

 to pieces on being touched with even a camePs-hair 

 brush in mounting. They are mostly yellowish-brown 

 in colour, with no sculpture, and short silky pubescence. 

 The rare Prionocyphon has on two or three occasions 

 been found in ants' nests ; though it is a mystery how 

 or why it got there. Scirtes is conspicuous for the great 

 development of its hinder femora, and the large curved 

 outer spur at the apex of the tibiae of the same legs ; the 

 inner spur being shorter. S. hemisph&ricus, a flat, black 

 insect, is abundant in marshy places at ^eybridge and 

 elsewhere ; and jumps strongly, after the manner of the 

 Halticida, for a member of which family it might rea- 

 dily be mistaken by a novice who failed to notice its 

 five-jointed tarsi. It has a pleasing habit of dropping 

 its hind legs entirely when handled; and shares the 

 fragility of its allies. 



The EUBRIADJS (consisting of a single genus and 

 species, Eubria palustris, a small black insect with 

 rather deeply furrowed elytra) differ from the Cyphonid<e 

 chiefly in having the mesosternum level and square 

 instead of concave, and the prosternal projection not 

 narrow but wide and flat, gradually lessened behind, and 

 uniting with the mesosternum. The front and inter- 

 mediate coxae are transverse and sunken, with no tro- 

 chantina; and the hinder pair are but very slightly 

 enlarged on the inner side. 



The LYCID^: have the antennse inserted on the upper 

 side between or before the eyes, and very close together ; 

 the mandibles very small, slender, and not toothed at 

 the apex; the trochanters placed in the axis of the fe- 



