126 HELOCEEA. LAMELLICORNIA 



of which the larvae (whose bodies are hairy) are very voracious, 

 feeding on the skins or carcases of animals, often destroying col- 

 lections of insects, and committing great ravages in fur-ware- 

 houses. 



708. The HELOCERA, which form the next tribe, also have 

 clubbed antennas, but their limbs are singularly flattened, and so 

 arranged that each part can be folded closely up to the others, in 

 order that the whole may occupy the smallest possible space ; in 

 this contracted condition, the limbs are received in small cavities 

 in the lower surface of the body. In their habits these insects 

 vary a good deal. The Histers or Mimic Beetles, which are of 

 a flattened, quadrangular form, with a very hard, smooth, and 

 shining integument, usually of a black colour, are found some- 

 times in the dung of the larger animals, and sometimes in putres- 

 cent animal matters, whilst a few of them dwell beneath the 

 bark of trees. The ByrrhidtB, commonly known as Pill- Beetles, 

 from their spherical or convex ovate form, are usually found 

 crawling on the ground in sandy localities, although a few of them, 

 like the Dermestes in the preceding tribe, frequent houses and 

 warehouses, where they are often exceedingly destructive to 

 dried animal matters. 



709. The next tribe of the Pentamerous section, the 

 LAMELLICORNIA, is of very great extent, as well as one of 

 the most striking of the whole Beetle tribe, in regard to 

 the size of the body, and the variety in the form of the 

 head and thorax in the different sexes ; and also, moreover, 

 in those species which in their perfect state live upon fresh 

 vegetable substances, in respect to the brilliancy of the metallic 

 colours with which they are ornamented. But very many of the 

 other species, which subsist on decomposing vegetable matter, 

 are of a uniform brown or black colour ; although some are 

 not inferior in brilliancy to the preceding. All have wings ; 

 and they crawl but slowly along the ground. None of them are 

 aquatic. Their food, especially in the larva state, consists of dung, 

 manure, tan, and particularly, in some species, of the roots of 

 vegetables ; whence these insects often occasion great loss to 

 the cultivator. In the perfect state, many of them have the 



