268 NATURAI> ARRANGEMENT OF INSECTS. 



Thymalus ; others are found by sweeping in low herb- 

 age, as Typhcea, Mycetcea, and many Cryptophagi; and 

 many occur in heating heaps of garden rejectamenta, as 

 Anisarthria and Trichopteryx, — the latter isdistinguished 

 by being the most minute of all Coleoptera, and having 

 their delicate wings fringed with fine hair, which, when 

 folded beneath their closed elytra, protrude like a couple 

 of pencils. As aberrant forms in this family, we may 

 view such genera as Choleva, Scaphidium, and Leiodes, 

 and their allies, all distinguished by the club of their 

 antennae consisting of five joints, the eighth of the organ, 

 the second of the club, being disproportionally minute. 

 With these associates also Agnthidium, that rolls itself 

 up like a ball, yet less spherical than we have observed 

 in Acanthocerus among the Trogince; and here, conti- 

 guously, r^ust be placed the still more remarkable Clam- 

 bus, which, imder the apprehension of danger, closes 

 its large broad head upon its four anterior legs ; whilst 

 the protection of the posterior pair is referred to the 

 broad enveloping plate, formed, as in Cnemidotus among 

 the Dyti&cidce, by the dilatation of the posterior coxae. 

 All of these, like the majority of \he Nitidulinee, are fun- 

 givorous ; and the Leiodes Cinnamomea feeds upon the 

 truffle. Of course, we here can enumerate only the 

 most conspicuous forms, and must refer the location of 

 the rest to the determination of their affinities. The 

 exotic forms are comparatively few, probably from their 

 being minute, and not having yet had sufficient atten- 

 tion bestowed upon them ; but some among them are 

 sufficiently remarkable; — for instance, the very extraor- 

 dinary Hypocephalus armatus is referred to this group, 

 and placed near the Necrophori. This is, perhaps, one 

 of thfe most grotesque forms the Coleoptera can exhibit. 

 It is a large insect, more than two inches long, with a 

 greatly developed thorax, not unlike that of a Calandra ; 

 its head is small and deflexed ; antennae short and moni- 

 liform, as are also its palpi ; the mandibles are somewhat 

 distorted and curved ; the maxillae large, prominent, 

 and triangular; it has the elytra of a Carabus; the 



