118 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



opaque, thickly rugose punctate, clothed with a dense cinereous-yellow down, 

 with a deep, broad, oblong, abbreviated fovea in the middle of the disc: 

 elytra with the shoulders prominent, slightly convex, rather obsoletely 

 striate, the striae thickly but faintly punctate, each interstice with a distinct 

 row of depressed, cinereous- yellow, hairs, giving a lineated appearance: 

 body beneath pale testaceous, slightly pubescent : legs pale testaceous : an- 

 tennae brunneous. 



Var. j8. Ly. pusillus. Steph. Catal. 94. No. 1007.— Considerably smaller, and 

 paler in colour. 



Very common in the neighbourhood of London, and I believe 

 throughout the country : — it abounds on palings, beneath bark, &c, 

 especially of the oak. " Under the bark of decaying oaks (near 

 Swansea), not uncommon." — L. W. Dillwyn, Esq. 



Family XXL— DERMESTID^E, Leach. 



Antennae slender, longer than the head, and terminated by a distinct ovoid 

 compressed mass or club, consisting of three or four joints. Palpi short, 

 but little exse,rted, subfiliform, with the terminal joint rounded : mandibles 

 very short, slightly denticulate within the apex: body subovate or suboval, 

 rounded at both extremities, robust, slightly convex : head indexed, inserted 

 up to the eyes in the thorax, which is short, convex anteriorly : legs short, 

 robust, the posterior shorter than the body ; tibioe spinulose ; tarsi short, 

 pentamerous. 



The Dermestidse may be known by their ovate equal-ended 

 form, with the body slightly convex, the mandibles very short, 

 stout, and a tooth before the apex ; the antennae rather short, and 

 having an abrupt, compressed, ovoid club, or an elongate capi- 

 tulum, generally consisting of three or four joints : — the species 

 are usually found in dry or decaying animal substances, such as 

 leather, skins, &c. 



The larva? of the Dermestidse have the body elongate, gradually 

 diminishing to the tail, which terminates in a truncate cone ; the 

 skin is coriaceous, and furnished with long hairs : head scaly, 

 rounded ; antenna? triarticulate ; mandibles robust and dentate ; 

 eyes six : body composed of twelve segments, each with a coriaceous 

 plate, and furnished with two rows of hairs, of which the anterior 

 is directed forwards and the posterior backwards; the three first 

 segments bear each a pair of scaly legs, which are (as usual) 

 divided into three parts, terminated by a slightly curved hook or 

 claw; on the last segment of the body are two kinds of scaly 



