HANDBOOK OF BEETLES. 



45 



HydrophilidcB are water-beetles, and one of them, Hydrophilus 

 Pueus, is our largest water-beetle, measuring more than an inch 

 and a half m length, though scarcely as broad as the Dytisci ; 

 Hydrous Caraboides is a smaller insect. Both these species are 



Hydrous Caraboides. (Mag.) 



black and shining, and are found in stagnant water. They and 

 their larvae are carnivorous, feeding on small insects, etc., 

 though the beetles are much less voracious than the Dytiscidir, 

 and feed to a greater 01 less extent on vege- 

 table as well as animal matter. The females 

 construct a silken silvery case to contain their 

 eggs, provided with a tube at one end, which 

 floats on the surface of the water, the egg-case 

 itself being fixed to some plant. The smaller 

 beetles of this family are mostly to be found 

 in stagnant water among the roots of plants, 

 though some few are not strictly aquatic. 

 Laccobius Minutus, which we have figured, a 

 common aquatic insect, is a little round black 

 beetle, with pale yellow legs, mouth, and antennae. 



The Spharidiidtz are small round black beetles, sometimes 

 spotted with red, which live in dung and under stones ; a few 

 species have yellowish elytra. 



The Brachelytra are a very extensive group, differing very 

 much in size and habits, but easily to be recognised by their 

 very short elytra, which leave the greater part of the abdomen 



