270 CLAVICORNU. [Thymalus. 



in length, whitish with the scutum of prothorax (which is almost entire) and the lust 

 segment of abdomen blackish-brown ; the upper surface is very uneven, and the sides 

 are furnished with setre ; the greatest breadth is at the sixth or seventh segment of 

 abdomen ; the antennae are 4-jointed, exceedingly short, and the legs are not visible 

 from above ; the last abdominal segment terminates in two short stout cerci ; the 

 larva lives under bark, and transforms itself into a pupa about April ; it does not 

 appear to be certain whether it is carnivorous or not. 



T. limbatus, F. Oblong-orbicular, upper surface dark metallic red- 

 dish-bronze, very shining, with flat explanate margins which are clear 

 red, under-side reddish-brown ; the whole upper-side is clothed with 

 thick upright yellowish hairs ; head small, antennae rather slender with 

 strongly marked 3- jointed club ; thorax almost semicircular, upper surface 

 thickly and distinctly punctured ; elytra very convex, with shoulders 

 rather plainly marked, punctured very coarsely in not very regular rows, 

 interstices very finely punctured ; legs red. L. 5^6 'mm. 



Under bark ; very local and as a rule not common ; Westerham, Kent (Stephens) ; 

 Hastings (Bennett); New Forest (not uncommon, both in standing dead trees and 

 in fallen branches) ; Wales (Dilhvyn) ; Dean Forest ; Cannock Chase ; Sherwood 

 Forest; Leeds district; Northumberland district, very rare, Ravensworth (Hardy). 



MONOTOMIDJE. 



This family has been regarded by some authors as a tribe of the 

 Lathridiidse or of the Cucujidee ; it appears, however, to be the best 

 plan to regard it as distinct, as both in the formation of the antennae 

 and in other characters it presents considerable points of difference from 

 either of these families ; the species are elongate, more or less depressed, 

 usually dull, with the thorax crenulate at the sides, and the elytra not 

 covering the pygidium ; the antennae are inserted under the sides of the 

 front, and are 10-jointed, or obsoletely 11-jointed, with the club solid 

 or obsoletely biarticulate ; the head is large, and the mandibles short 

 and robust ; the anterior coxal cavities are broadly closed behind ; the 

 abdomen is composed of five free ventral segments, of which the first and 

 fifth are longer ; as in some of the Nitidulidae the males have a small 

 extra dorsal segment ; the tarsi are 3-jointed, the third joint being elon- 

 gate, and the first two being clothed beneath with long hairs ; the claws 

 are simple. 



The family contains a few genera, the chief of which is Monotoma ; 

 the species are small and, as a rule, obscure-looking insects, and are 

 found among rubbish, under bark, in ants' nests, &c. 



MONOTOMA, Herbst. 



This genus contains about thirty or forty species, which are chiefly 

 confined to the northern and temperate regions of the Old and IS T ew 

 Worlds ; species have, however, been described from the Canary Islands, 



