176 SBBRIOORNIA. [Drilup 



(referred to by Mr. Rye, Ent. Monthly Mag. vii. 59), it is stated that 

 the female of Drilus flavesccns is not only found in Helix nemoralis, but 

 in several other species as well, and that a good way to take specimens 

 is to collect in February and March all the snails found in gardens, and 

 to make with a penknife an opening at the extremity of the first spiral 

 turn of the shell, opposite the mouth ; if fragments stuck together in a 

 kind of spider's web be then seen, there is no doubt of the presence of 

 the insect. 



LIMEXYLONIDJE. 



This family contains four genera, of which two are represented in 

 Europe ; with the exception of Micromalthus, a North American genus, 

 they may at once bo known by the very large flabellate maxillary palpi 

 of the male, which give the insect a very peculiar appearance ; the 

 antennae are 11-jointed, and are inserted at the sides of the head, Avliich 

 is narrowed behind ; they are either serrate or subfiliform ; the anterior 

 coxal cavities are open behind, and all the coxae are contiguous ; in 

 our genera the elytra entirely, or almost entirely, cover the abdomen, 

 which latter consists of five or six free ventral segments ; the legs are 

 slender and moderately long, and the tarsi are 5-jointed and very 

 elongate ; in the exotic genus Atractocerus the elytra are much abbre- 

 viated. 



The larvae of Limexylon and Hyleccetus are figured by Westwood (Classification, 

 vol. i. p. 269, fig. 30, 19, 23) ; they are rather peculiar in their appearance, the pro- 

 thoracic segment being much enlarged and dilated into a hood-like process, which is 

 larger in the latter than in the former genus ; in Hylecaetus the last segment is large 

 aud considerably refiexed, and bears a long upright horn-like process, which is fur- 

 Dished with setae on sides and apex ; in the larva of Llmexylon the last segment is 

 produced into a large half-upright obtuse lobe, and the hood-like process of the 

 prothoracie segment, as above mentioned, is smaller. 



The position of the family has been considerably disputed ; many 

 authors have placed it near the Bostrichidae, but it is now apparently 

 considered as coming close to the Cleridae, and in the catalogue of 

 Heyden, Reitter, and Weise it is placed as a tribe of that family ; in 

 several exotic species of Drilidae the palpi are very extraordinary, and 

 on this account the Limexylonidse and Drilidae would seem to be 

 related, and the best position for the former family appears to be 

 between the Drilidae and the Cleridae. 



I. Antennae shorter, feebly serrate in male, strongly serrate 



in female ; scutellum with a raised carina in front .... IlrLECtE rus, Lair. 



II. Antennae longer, subfiliform in male, very feebly serrate 



in female ; scutellum without raised carina LIMEXYLON, F. 



UYXiECCETUS, Latreille. (Elateroides, Schaffer.) 



This genus contains about a dozen species, of which two are found in 

 Europe, and the remainder in North and South America, Java, and the 



