100 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTEXlAc 



Family X.— HETEROCERIDiE, Mac Leay. 



Antenna? short, 11 -jointed, the two basal joints large, the remainder forming an 

 obsoletely serrated mass ; body rather depressed : head elongate, inserted up 

 to the eyes in the thorax, the latter transverse, subovate ; legs alike ; tibia* 

 compressed, spinose : tarsi four-jointed. 



Of this family also there is but one indigenous genus, and, like 

 the Parnidse, their history is unknown, though it is supposed, from 

 the structure of their tropin, that they subsist upon animal matter : 

 they inhabit damp situations, especially the muddy banks of rivers, 

 and on the sands of the ocean, into which they burrow, by means 

 of their fossorial legs. 



Genus XCI. — Heterocerus, Bosc. 



Palpi very short, three-jointed ; maxillary with the terminal joint securiform; 

 labial with the last joint conic, truncate: labrum hairy, semiorbicular : man- 

 dibles tridentate at the apex, with a membranous lobe internally; maxilla? 

 with the external lobe rhomboidal, the internal obtuse : mentum subcordate, 

 deeply emarginate : labrum elongate. Antennae with the basal joint very large, 

 the second smaller, cup-shaped ; the two following minute, the remainder 

 forming a subserrated club : body oval, subconvex, pubescent. Males more 

 . slender and cylindric than the females. 



At least five species of this genus appear to inhabit Britain : they 

 are remarkably variable, and much confusion has arisen through the 

 various opinions of authors respecting the distinction of the species 

 and varieties : they inhabit, as before stated, the muddy banks of 

 rivers, and may be obtained by trampling on the ground, when the 

 little animals, aroused by the sudden noise, shortly make their 

 appearance, but if not quickly secured, soon burrow again beneath 

 a fresh portion of the soil, or hide themselves in the crevices formed 

 by the drying of the latter. 



Sp. 1. marginatus. Fuscus, pubescens, elytris pallide ferrugineo-maculatis, 



pedibus fuscis , tarsis testaceis. (Long. corp. if — 2^ lin.) 

 He. marginatus. Fabricius. — Steph. Catal. p. 55. No. 549. 



Dusky or pitchy, pubescent, very finely punctulate : head and thorax immacu- 

 late, the latter sometimes with a ferruginous tinge at the anterior angle : elytra 

 with the margin and several irregular spots on the disc, more or less confluent 

 or obliterated, pale ferruginous : legs fuscous, with the tarsi testaceous : antenna? 

 pale, with the club dusky. 



Not common near London: in plenty on the north-western coasts. 



