BEETLES. 31 



abdomen,, and sometimes rather shorter; antennae with a three- 

 jointed club. 



The Nitidulidce are small vegetable-feeding beetles, which are 

 generally found on flowers or flowering bushes, or else under bark; 

 a few species, however, feed on dung. They are all of small size, 

 the largest only reaching a quarter of an inch in length, and the 

 majority are much smaller. They are much more varied in their 

 colours than the Histeridce. 



The genus Cercus, Latr., is often remarkable for the structure 

 of the antennae ; the first or two first joints are very large in the 

 male, and the following ones small, but gradually increasing in 

 size to the tip. C. Pedicularius, Linn., is a pale reddish beetle, 

 about one-twelfth of an inch in length, which is not uncommon on 

 flowers. Carpophilus Hemipterus, Linn., is a rather larger insect, 

 which occurs under bark ; it is of a dull black or brown colour, 

 with yellowish-red legs and antennae, and the elytra either wholly 

 brownish-yellow or (more commonly) of the ground colour, with a 

 broad yellow transverse band near the tip, and a yellow spot on 

 each shoulder. In both these species the elytra are truncated. 



Some species of this family are very prettily spotted; thus 

 Epurcea Decemguttata, Fabr., which measures about one-sixth of 

 an inch in length, is brown, with yellow spots ; the legs are also 

 yellow. Nitidula Bipustulata, Fabr., another well-known European 

 species about the same size, is dark-brown, or black, with red legs, 

 a red border to the collar, and a large red spot on each elytron. 

 Meligethes, Steph., is one of the largest genera of this family, 

 though the greater number of the species are European; M. 

 Rufipes, Gyll., which measures about one-eighth of an inch in 

 length, is dull black, with reddish legs and antennae. 



The genus RMzophagus, Herbst, is very unlike the rest of the 

 family, being long and narrow, almost of the shape of an Mater. 



FAMILY VII. Trogositidce. 



Tarsi five-jointed, not dilated, the first joint minute. 



The insects of this family are closely allied to the Nitidulidce, 

 but are larger, and are generally met with under bark. They 

 differ considerably in shape. Thymalus Limbatus, Fabr., is about 

 a quarter of an inch in length, and is nearly round. It is of a 

 dark bronzy colour, with a rather broad red rim extending round 

 both the thorax and elytra. The typical genus Trogostta, Oliv., 

 is about twice as long as broad; T. Mauritanica, Linn., the only 



