146 BRITISH BEETLES. 



front of the body, and a projection on the back of the 

 apical segment; their head is retractile into the first 

 thoracic segment, which is enlarged and elevated, and 

 they have no eyes. The pupa is formed near the mouth 

 of the burrow, which is enlarged by the larva; and is 

 thin and cylindrical, as in most wood-feeding insects. 



Hylec&tus dermestoides (Plate IX, Fig. 6, male), found 

 at Rannoch, Sherwood, etc., differs considerably in the 

 size and colour of its sexes, and possesses an ocellum on 

 the vertex. The maxillary palpi of the male are of great 

 size, assuming the appearance of a fan, on account of 

 the third joint (which is much developed) having 

 numerous branchial appendages. In this genus there 

 are six segments to the abdomen; but in Lymexylon, 

 which is of the greatest rarity here, though so common 

 on the Continent as to commit great damage to timber, 

 there are only five. 



The PTINID.E are conspicuous for their habit of re- 

 tracting their head beneath the prothorax (Plate X, 

 Fig. 1 a) , which forms a cowl ; their legs, also, are con- 

 tractile, with no spines on the outer edge of the tibiae, 

 which have the terminal spurs absent or very small, and 

 short five-jointed tarsi, of which the first and second 

 joints are almost equal in length. They are usually 

 small, of hard integuments, more or less cylindrical, and 

 clothed with short pubescence. Of the two sub-families 

 into which they are divided, the Ptinides have the 

 antennae inserted in the front part of the head, and the 

 upper part of the prothorax confused with its sides ; 

 whilst the Anobiides have the antennae inserted close to 

 the front margin of the eyes, a strong ridge separating 

 the pronotum from the sides of the prothorax, and the 

 anterior coxae rather more projecting. 



