232 BRITISH BEETLES. 



and their tarsi would not be of much weight in such an 

 affinity, considering the irregularities in that respect of 

 the last-mentioned family; but their antennae, which 

 are nine-jointed, very slender, and with the eighth joint 

 suddenly very much enlarged ; and their very large and 

 laminated posterior coxae seem to bring them close to 

 the Trichopterygida. This approximation is made more 

 likely by the form and habits of the larva of Comazus 

 dubius (the only species of which the earlier stages have 

 hitherto been recorded), which appear to accord very 

 well with those of the Trichopterygidae. 



The family SPH^ERIAD^E, consisting of one genus and 

 species, Sphcerius acaroides (taken in the Cambridge 

 fens), appears also to have certain characters in com- 

 mon with the Trichopterygidte, viz., a large projecting 

 labrum, the antennae with a suddenly enlarged and 

 ciliated club, and very large triangular posterior coxae. 

 It differs, however, from the latter in having the abdo- 

 men composed of only three segments, wings of the 

 ordinary shape, and the parts of the mouth (except the 

 labrum) not similarly formed. 



S. acaroides is of extremely small size, globose above, 

 black and shining, with its anterior femora strongly 

 toothed ; and, as its name imports, resembles certain of 

 the Acari, or mites. 



The TRICHOPTERYGIDAE (by far the most minute of all 

 Coleoptera, most of them being less than the sixth of a 

 line long) have eleven-jointed antennae, which are long, 

 very slender, beset with hairs, with a very large basal 

 ioint, and an abrupt three-jointed club; their elytra are 

 either truncate behind or cover the abdomen entirely ; 

 their wings (which are sometimes rudimentary) are 

 usually twice as long as the body, very narrow, com 



