128 M. straus-durckheim's 



one-third of tlieir lengtli ; they have no molar surface or 

 incisive edge, but are furnished with a kw rounded teeth, and 

 terminate in a sharp incurved point ; moreover, they are very 

 moveable. The max'dlcB are elongate, but shorter than the 

 mandibles, and their lobes are not furnished with a dense 

 covering of hair. The labium is small and moveable. The 

 Dytici, however, have the mandibles short, terminated, as in 

 the omnivorous Coleoptera, by two strong teeth, but they have 

 no molar surface. The labium is large, and not very move- 

 able ; the maxillce resemble those of the Carabi. L. This is 

 nearly the form of the mouth in those Coleoptera which live 

 on decaying flesh ; perhaps the Dytici feed not on living 

 prey, but on dead animals.'^ 



Those which feed on dry animal matter, have the mandibles 

 and maxillcB scarcely projecting beyond the labrum ; the for- 

 mer are broad, strong, terminated by a short, but very sharp 

 point, behind which is a single small incisive tooth : their 

 inner surface is furnished with an elongate brush of hair, but 

 has no molar surface. 



The maxilla, which terminate in a sharp incurved point, 

 have also a considerable tuft of hair, and the galea is broad, 

 short, and hairy. Those Coleoptera which feed on the pollen 

 of flowers have the mandibles very short, hid by the clypeus, 

 furnished with a large molar surface, but their extremity is but 

 little developed. The maxilla, are very large, furnished with 

 long tufts of hair. Where they feed on plants, we find the 

 mandibles of Coleoptera hid by the clypeus and labrum, the 

 terminal point blunt, or wanting ; the inner edge incisive, and 

 either entire, or divided into several teeth meeting one another; 

 they have a large molar surface. The maxillce are short, 

 but present no other general character. 



Such are the principal relations we find in Ccleoptera 

 between the food and the form of the mouth. The study of 

 the habits of insects has been so much neglected that we 

 know but little of their food, and our notions on this subject 

 are the more indistinct, because we often trust to imperfect 

 observations, or have happened only to observe the exceptions 



« Though I believe M. Straus to be wrong in supposing the Dytici not to prey 

 on living animals, yet I have had clear proof of their feeding upon dead animals ; 

 having taken D. marginalis devouring a large frog, which evidently had been 

 killed, not by the Dyticus, but by other means. See also Erichson, p. 12. — E. D. 



