SERBICORNIA. G5 



antennae largely flabellato or simple, the trochanters applied obliquely 

 to the femora, the claws often bifid, and the abdominal segments often 

 cut in various ways in the male ; the intermediate coxae are subcon- 

 tiguuus, and the female is sometimes apterous. 



Telephoridee. Antennae inserted between the eyes which are 

 out ire, at most only faintly serrate, usually quite simple, long or very 

 long ; trochanters applied to femora ; edge of thorax often plicate 

 (e.g. Silis) ; abdomen very soft, composed of six or seven segments, 

 wlndi are often divided or excised; elytra not, or obsoletely, striate ; 

 prosternum very short ; legs long, claws simple or bifid. 



M elyridee. Antennas serrate or pectinate, very rarely moniliform, 

 inserted in front of the eyes on the produced part of the head ; labruni 

 distinct ; prosternum short ; body occasionally with extensile vesicles ; 

 abdomen composed of six free ventral segments, the sixth being occa- 

 sionally indistinct ; surface often very hairy and brilliantly coloured ; tarsi 

 5-jointed, with the fourth joint entire, often furnished beneath with 

 membranous pads or lobes ; posterior coxae prominent internally. 



Cleridae. Antennae usually serrate, often pectinate (Tillus), but 

 with the terminal three joints almost always tending to form a club 

 (Corynetea and Necrobia being the ultimate forms), inserted behind the 

 base of the mandibles; body hairy, and tarsi with lobes beneath (points 

 which ally the family to tho Melyridse) ; thorax subcylindrical, with the 

 sides not margined ; abdomen composed of six ventral segments ; 

 posterior coxae flat. 



Drilidae. Antennae usually highly pectinate in the males ; females 

 apterous (this character may not be general) ; palpi often very abnormal 

 (a character which brings the family near the Limexylonida? ; it is also 

 closely allied to the Lampyridae and Lycidse, with which it has often 

 been included as a tribe, and with which it agrees in the formation of 

 the tibiae, tarsi, and abdomen). 



Xiimexylonidee. Antennae 11-jointed, serrate or subfilifonn, 

 inserted at the sides of the head, which is narrowed behind ; maxillary 

 palpi of the male very large and flabellate (in the European species) ; 

 all the coxae contiguous ; abdomen consisting of five or six (according to 

 Thomson six or seven) ventral segments ; tarsi elongate, 5-jointed, 

 with the joints entire ; integuments soft; elytra, in our genera, covering 

 or nearly covering abdomen. 



PTINOIDEA. 



Ptinidae. Antennae long and filiform, or very faintly serrate, never 

 clavate, inserted upon the front, more or less contiguous at base, as a 

 rule 11-jointed; head retractile; thorax narrower than elytra, and 

 usually constricted at base ; elytra, as a rule, more or less rounded and 



VOL. iv. r 



