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CHAPTER X. 



HETEROMERA. 



THIS is a very important section of the Coleoptera,. 

 embracing many of our most familiar Beetles, though 

 in England the number of Heteromerous Beetles is 

 very small when compared with the list of exotic 

 insects. The name Heteromera is compounded of 

 two Greek words, signifying ' unequal-jointed,' and is 

 applied to these Beetles because they all have five 

 joints in the tarsi of the first and intermediate pairs 

 of legs, and only four joints in those of the hinder 

 pair. As has been mentioned in connection with 

 other four-jointed tarsi, the full number of five joints 

 is in reality present, but the basal joint is very long, 

 and in it is merged the missing joint ; so that the 

 joint is in reality not absent, but so small as to escape 

 ordinary observation. 



The first family of this section is named Blaptidae, 

 and its members are known by the ' securiform,' or 

 hatchet-shaped last joint of the maxillary palpi, and 

 the long femora of the hind legs. The wings are not 

 developed, and the elytra are soldered together. In 

 England we only have one genus of this family, con- 

 taining three species. That which we will take as 



