THE MALACODERM1. 147 



Their larvae, which resemble those of the Lamellicornes 

 in miniature, feed chiefly upon dead wood; though 

 sometimes upon living trees, bones, seeds, etc. I have 

 found the cocoons of Ptinus germanus in an old post ; 

 they were formed of a dirty silken fabric, mixed with 

 pieces of wood ; and contained the perfect insects, which 

 (as usual) do not appear to be active immediately after 

 their exclusion from the pupa. 



Hedobia imperialis (Plate X, Fig. 1) is the only species 

 with any pretensions to beauty ; it occurs in old white- 

 thorn bushes. The Ptini are found in houses and about 

 old palings, often doing considerable damage to Natural- 

 history collections ; they have the prothorax constricted 

 behind, and the male usually more elongate, and with 

 longer antennae than the female. 



Gibbium and Mezium^oih house-feeders (and, perhaps, 

 not truly indigenous), have entirely smooth and shining 

 elytra, looking much like certain small Arachnida ; the 

 former especially so, on account of its thorax also being 

 smooth, its continuous outline, slow gait, and long 

 sprawling legs. The latter has no scutellum ; arid both 

 contract their legs and antennae in repose, assuming a 

 globular form, which has been fancifully likened to a 

 drop of blood. 



Of the Anobiides, the cylindrical little Ptilinus pec- 

 tmicorniS) whose neat round drills may often be seen 

 in great numbers in old willow, etc., looking as if a 

 volley of small shot had been discharged very cleanly 

 into the wood, is noteworthy from the beautiful fan-like 

 structure of its antennae in the male. The females 

 appear to remain in the galleries made by the larvae, 

 and the male couples from the outside. 



Dorcatoma, small, round, and convex, found in old 



L 2 



