212 



Byrehid^e.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-HYDKOPniLID.'E. 



seven species ; ParniDjE, with nine ; and Georys- 

 SID^, with one, like a small Byrrhus. 



The various species of Byrrhus when in danger, or 



.78. 



Attagenus pellio and larva. 



when alarmed, pretend to be dead. Their legs are 

 short and flat ; they pack these legs so close to the 



Fig. 79. 



Tiresias serra and larva. 



body, and lie so completely motionless, that when on 

 the ground they look like a small pebble or seed, or 

 the dung of a small animal. It requires the eye of an 



Parnus prolifericomis. 



acute collector to recognize an insect in the apparently 

 inanimate substance before him. The mottled appear- 

 ance serves also much to conceal them. 



Tribe— PALPICORNES. 



These insects were so called by Latreille, from the 

 maxillary palpi being generally very greatly elongated. 

 The woodcuts show the antenna and the maxilla, with 



Hydrochus elongatus — a the antenna ; h the maxiUary palpus. 



its palpus, of two different genera, in which this char- 

 acter is well marked. Figure 81 is that of Hydrochus 

 elongalus; a the antenna; 6 the maxillary palpus. 



Family— HYDROPHILID^. 



The family Hydeophilid.*;, divided into two fami- 

 lies, Helophoridm and HydrophilidcB, have ovate or 

 ovate-oblong bodies. In one section the thorax is 

 rough, in the other smooth. Fig. 82 is the Hijdrccna 

 testacea ; a the antennte ; 6 maxillary palpi. There 

 are fifty-four British species, varying in size from the 

 large Hydrous piceus to the small Laccobius minutus. 

 The following genera are British: — Spefi-cheus, Hydro- 

 chus, with its large bull-eyes; Helophorus, a genus of 

 elongated form ; Ochthchius, with its short slender last 

 joint to the maxillary palpi ; Hydrcena (see fig. 82), in 



Fig. 82. 



Hydrffiua testacea— a the antenna; b the maxillary palpns. 



which that same joint is much elongated ; Limnehius, 

 Bcrosus, Laccobius, Hydrous, on which there are some 

 particulars further on; Hydrophilus, Hydrobius, Phil- 

 hydrus, and Chcctarthria, with its very small species 

 like a seed ((7. seminulmn). 



Many of the insects of this family may be seen 

 crawling on ditch banks; the species of the Helo- 



