ON THE PALPICORNES. 445 



always conceals its antennas under the head, and only suffers 

 the barbies to appear, which it keeps in continual motion ; 

 but when it walks on dry ground, it advances first its an- 

 tennae. The larva is unknown. The Elophorns aquaticus 

 is found through Kurope in fresh and stagnant waters. 



On the remaining sub genera of this tribe there is nothing 

 which can be added here. 



The insects of the genus Sphceridium have been con- 

 founded by Linnaeus and Geoffrey with Dermestes, and by 

 Degeer with Hister. But they are distinguished from both 

 one and the other, by the number of articulations in their an- 

 tennas, their insertion, the size of their maxillary palpi, the 

 labium, and various other characters. 



They approximate much nearer to hydrophilus, &c. But 

 independently of their not living in the water, they are re- 

 moved from them by the character of their tarsi, their jaws, 

 and the size of the second articulation of their maxillary 

 palpi. Some males, like certain of the hydrophili, have the 

 last articulation of the anterior tarsi dilated. These insects 

 feed, for the most part, on the dung of animals, especially on 

 cow-dung, and are of small size, hemispherical form, black 

 and shining. The Leiodes and Phalceri have, in these last 

 relations, some resemblance to them, and were even at first 

 placed in the same genus. But they are strongly distin- 

 guished from them by the number of articulations in their 

 tarsi. 



