TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



SOUTH AFRICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



DESCEIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE COLEOPTEEA 

 OF SOUTH AFEICA.— Part III. 



By- L. Peringuey, F.E.S., F.Z.S., &c, 

 Assistant Director South African Museum. 



(Bead November, 1896.) 



Family PATJSSIDJE. 



Buccal aperture opening downward, labrum not much developed, 

 labial palpi three- jointed, maxillary palpi four or five-jointed, 

 maxillae with one inner lobe or not, short, hooked at tip, falciform or 

 bifid, ligula horny, concave inwardly, convex outwardly, without 

 paraglossae, edged with bristles or setae, both palpi and ligula hiding 

 the mouth or not ; mentum with two sharp lateral, nearly parallel 

 lobes, median part slightly aculeate ; head large and with a distinct 

 neck (Hylotorus excepted) ; antennae varying in number of joints 

 from ten to two ; eyes large, lateral ; prothorax either entire on the 

 upper side or nearly divided in two ; elytra long, covering the abdo- 

 men ; pygidium large, declivous, all the coxae contiguous and provided 

 with trochanters ; legs short, robust, nearly always more or less 

 compressed, sometimes broadly dilated; tarsi five- jointed ; pro-, 

 meso-, and metasternum simple ; abdomen with five segments, four 

 only of which are visible. 



The habits of the singular insects included in this family are now 

 sufficiently known. 



They are myrmecophilous, and although occasionally met with in 

 the open, the place where they should be looked for is in ants' nests 



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