CLUB-HORN BEETLES 23 



their basal half (i.e., the part next the thorax), in sharp 

 contrast to the black of the remainder of the body, both 

 before and behind. The two colours meet abruptly in a 

 well-defined, somewhat wavy boundary line, running 

 across from side to side. In the present order it very 

 frequently happens that, as we have already seen in 

 Niptus, the colours that appear on the surface are not 

 ingrained into the skin of the insect itself, but are 

 produced by hairs or scales, with which it is more or 

 less thickly coated ; and it is not until these have been 

 removed that the true colours of the body, which do 

 not necessarily correspond with the superficial orna- 

 mentation, can be clearly ascertained. The present 

 insect is covered tolerably thickly with hairs, and the 

 parts that are superficially black are also of that colour 

 when denuded of their covering, but under the pale 

 patch the elytra are of a very deep reddish-brown. 



The head is of small dimensions, and, when the insect 

 is at rest, is carried bent down beneath the thorax, a 

 position from which, in a defunct individual, the cole- 

 opterist who desires all parts of his specimens to be 

 properly displayed, finds it no easy matter to coax it 

 out. The antennae are of the type known as clubbed, 

 a feature which indicates that the insect belongs to that 

 large section of the beetle order called Clavicornia, or 

 Club -horns, a group containing about 600 British 

 species, a good many of which are feeders upon carrion 

 and the dried carcases of other animals. 



A clubbed antenna is usually almost abnormally short, 

 and may be at once distinguished by the fact that the 

 terminal joints, two, three, four, or five in number, are 

 much broader than the rest. It is surprising how many 

 varieties this very simple peculiarity is capable of, 

 and these variations are of much importance in the 



