CHAPTER X. 



HUTEEOMEBA. 



This is a very important section of the Coleoptera, em- 

 bracing many of our most familiar Beetles, thongh in England 

 the number of Heteromeroiis Beetles is very small when com- 

 pared with the list of exotic insects. The name Heteromera is 

 compounded of two Greek words, signifying ' unequal-jointed,' 

 and is applied to these Beetles because they all have five joints in 

 the tarsi of the first and intermediate pairs of legs, and only 

 four joints in those of the hinder pair. As has been mentioned 

 in connection with other four-jointed tarsi, the full number of 

 five joints is in reality present, but the basal joint is very long, 

 and in it is merged the missing joint; so that the joint is in 

 reality not absent, but so small as to escape ordinary ob- 

 servation. 



The reader may object that many other Beetles are possessed 

 of this characteristic. So they are, but, nevertheless, the 

 distinction is a good one. In the first place, the missing joint 

 in other Beetles is merged in the last and not in the basal 

 joint ; in the next place, the true Heteromera have the eyes 

 kidney-shaped, and not projecting far from the head; the 

 antennee are ' moniliform,' i.e. looking like a row of beads on a 

 string, and the mandibles are notched at their tips. 



The first family of this section is named Blaptidae, and its 

 members are known by the ' securiform,' or hatchet-shaped last 

 joint of the maxillary palpi, and the long femora of the hind 

 legs. The wings are not developed, and the elytra are soldered 

 together. In England we only have one genus of this family, 

 containing three species. That which we will take as our type 

 is the Churchyard Beetle {Blaps moHisaga), which is repre- 

 sented on Woodcut XV. Fig. 1, the antenna being shown at 

 Fig. d, below the insect. All the species belonging to this 



