Introduction 



their antennae terminating in a club or knob. In 

 the sub-group Brachelytra (or " rove beetles "), 

 distinguished by their long and flexible hind body 

 projecting far beyond the elytra (wing cases) (see 

 Plate V., Fig. 4 and 18) ; the antennae are merely 

 more or less thickened at the extremity. Another 

 sub-group the Palpicornia form the aquatic section 

 of the Clavicornia. 



The members of the third group, called the Lamelli- 

 cornia, are fairly large and very convex, their antennae 

 are short, and the terminal joints so articulated at the 

 base that they can be folded one on another like the 

 leaves of a fan, their legs are short and stiff and the front 

 pair often thickened and toothed for digging. Fig. 8, 

 on Plate B. represents one of them. 



The Serricornia, the fourth group, is another very 

 heterogeneous collection of beetles ; it is divided into 

 three sub-groups ; the Sternoxi, hard and elongate, 

 generally with the power of leaping (the popularly 

 known " Skip-jack " beetles) ; the Malacodermata, 

 elongate with soft leather-like elytra and long antennae ; 

 and the Teredilia generally smaller, sometimes almost 

 spherical, with short antennae. The one character 

 which unites the whole group is the structure of the 

 antennae which are more or less serrate, that is, that 

 the joints are united along a lateral instead of a central 

 axis, and thus appear toothed like a saw or even 

 branched. Some of these are shown on Plate V., 

 Fig. 6, and Plate VI., Fig 19. 



The Longicornia form the fifth group large hand- 

 some beetles, elongate in shape with long legs and usually 

 very long antennae, whose larval life is spent in the 

 interior of timber. 



The sixth group, the Phytophaga, feed exclusively 



3 



