POLYMORPHA DERODONTIDAE CIOIDAE 



245 





a ml 

 b<d(le<l 



FIG. 123. Derodontits macu- 

 latus. North America. 



middle coxae small; abdomen with five visible segments, 

 niolili\ the first not elongated. One of the smallest and least 



known of the families of Coleoptera ; it 



consists of four or five species of small 



Insects of the genera Derodontus and 



rrltastirta, found in jSTorth America, 



Kurope, and Japan. The distinction of the 



family from Cleridae is by no means cer- 



tain ; our European Laricobius apparently 



possessing characters hut little different. 



Nothing is known as to the life-histories. 

 Fam. 50. Cioidae. Small or minufi- 



In , //V.s ; antennae, short, terminal joints 



thicker; tarsi short, four-jointed ; anterior 

 coxae small, oval, deeply em- 

 abdomen with fi.ve ventral seg- 



ments, all mobile. The position of these 



obscure little Insects seems to be near Colydiidae and Crypto- 



phagidae, though they are usually 

 placed near Bostrichidae. So far as 

 known, they all live in fungi, or in 

 wood penetrated by fungoid growths. 

 The cylindrical larvae live also in 

 similar matter ; they usually have the 

 body terminated behind by one or two 

 hooks curved upwards: that of Cis 

 iiiclJiri (Fig. 124) has, instead of these 

 hooks, a curious chitinous tube. About 

 300 species of the family are now 

 known ; a score, or so, occurring in 

 Britain. The Hawaiian Islands bave 

 a remarkably rich and varied fauna of 



FIG. 124. Cis melliei. Martin- Cioidae. 



portion of body of larva, of half a dozen species of rare and 



small Insects, differs from Cioidae by 



the tarsi being five-jointed at any rate on the front and middle 

 feet, opinions differing as to whether the number of joints of the 

 hind tarsi is four or five. These Insects live in fungi growing 

 in wood, e.g. Ecticularia Imrtensis, that are at first pulpy and 



