234 



COLEOPTERA 



CHAP. 



Fam. 31. Rhysodidae. Tarsi f //r- jointed ; mouth - 

 covered liy the la rye mentum ; front tibiae notched on the inner 

 nlije. This family consists only of a few species, but is found 

 nearly all over the world in the warm and temperate regions. 

 In many of their characters they resemble the Adephaga, but are 

 very different in appearance and in the mouth. The larvae are 

 not known. Some authorities think these Insects should be 

 placed in the series Adephaga, 1 but it is more probable that they 

 will prove to be amongst the numerous aberrant forms of Coleop- 

 tera that approach the various large natural series, without 

 really belonging to them. The three families, Colydiidae, Cucu- 

 jidae, and Bhysodidae, exhibit relations not only with other 

 families of the Coleoptera Polymorpha, but also with most of the 

 great series ; Adephaga, Ehynchophora, Phytophaga, and Hetero- 

 mera, being each closely approached. 



Fam. 32. Cucujidae. Tarsi Jive- or four-jointed, the first 

 joint often short: antennae sometimes clubbed, but more often 

 i I n lie thin at the tip ; front and middle coxae deeply embedded, 

 globular, but with an angular prolongation externally ; abdomen 

 with Jive visible ventral segments, all movable. This family and 



the Cryptophagidae are amongst the 

 most difficult families to define ; 



3=^^ 



indeed it is in this portion of the 

 Clavicorns that an extended and 

 thorough study is most urgently 

 required. The Cucujidae include a 

 great diversity of forms ; they are 

 mostly found under the bark of trees, 

 and many of them are very Hat. 

 Many of the larvae are also very 

 Fro. 115. Brontes pianatus. Britain, flat, but 1'erris says there is great 



A, Larva ; B, pupa ; C, perfect -, , ,1 ,1 



insect. (A and B after Ferris.) diversity in their structure: they 



are probably chiefly carnivorous. 



There are about 400 species described ; we have nearly a score in 

 Britain. 



The family Cupesidae of certain taxonomists must be at 

 present associated with Cucujidae, though the first joint of the 

 tarsus is elongate. 



1 See Ganglbauer, Kof. Mltteleuropas, i. p. 530, as well as Leconte and Horn 

 Classification, etc., p. 130. 



