BEETLES. 



381 



YlG.aS.—Ips 

 fasciaiuB, 



and, according to Moufflet, the larva of a species of JBothrideres, found in Guadaloupe, 

 is an internal parasite of larvse of Lagochirus araneiformis, a cerambycid beetle. 



The usually flattened species of Nitidulid^ have antennaj of eleven joints; these 

 antennae are inserted under the front, and have an apical club of three (rarely two) 

 joints ; the tarsi are variable, but more or less dilated, and their first joint is not short ; 

 the anterior coxeb are transverse and not prominent, the posterior ones flat and not 

 sulcate ; the labial palpi are approximate at the base ; the ventral segments are free, 

 and the legs short. These beetles and their larvae feed in decomposing animal or 

 vegetable matter, in fungi and higher plants of soft texture, under bark of decaying 

 trees, on pollen, and an Australian species, JBrachypeplus auritus, eats the vi^ax in nests 

 of bees of the genus Trigona. 



The species of Ips have the antennal club made up of three joints, the labrura 

 connate with the epistoma, the anterior coxse open, and the thorax not 

 margined at the base. I. fasciatus, common throughout the United 

 States, is shining black, with a band or spot of yellow across the base, 

 and another just behind the middle of each elytron. It eats decompos- 

 ing animal and vegetable matter, being especially common in autumn 

 upon decaying pumpkins or cabbage-stalks which have been left in the 

 fields. Ips ferruginea, of Europe is said to feed upon larvae of Hylesi- 

 nus piniperda. Species of Ips, and of other Nitidulidse, also frequent 

 stumps of freshly-cut birch and maple trees early in the spring, in order to eat the 

 sap which oozes from them. 



In Omosita the labrum is entire and free, the head horizontal, the prothorax not 

 margined at the base, the tarsi moderately dilated, and the front not lobed over the 

 antennae. O. colon is found in the eastern United States and 

 in Europe. It is about 0.12 of an inch long, much flattened, 

 is deep brown, spotted upon the elytra with light brown; it 

 frequents decomposing animal and vegetable matter. 0. dis- 

 coidea, a slightly more elongate form than 0. colon, inhabits 

 Europe and the western United States. 



Of similar form to Omosita, but differing from it structurally 

 in having strongly dilated tarsi and feebly emarginate labrum, 

 are the species of Nitidula, of which N. bipustulata is found 

 in Europe and the eastern United States. This species is 

 about 0.2 of an inch long, and dark brown with a light-brown 

 spot near the middle of each elytron. Its 

 habits are similar to those of Omosita. 



Dr. G. H. Horn writes of Carpophilus, "Labrum bilobed. 

 Antennae eleven-jointed, terminated by a flattened-oval, three- 

 jointed club, grooves moderately deep, convergent. Legs mod- 

 erately robust, tibiae slightly broader at tip, spurs moderate. 

 Tarsi dilated, claws simple. Two, sometimes three, dorsal seg- 

 ments visible beyond the elytra ; abdomen beneath with segments 

 2-3 short, 1-4-5 longer." 0. hemipterus, a species about 0.15 

 of an inch long, distributed over most parts of the globe. It 

 is dark brown, with pale spots upon the elytra. 



In Conotelus the abdominal segments are greatly prolonged, so that the abdomen 

 projects far beyond the elytra, as it does in the Staphylinidae. C. obscurus, a black 



Fig. M4. —Ifitidula bipus- 

 tulata. 



Fig. 445. — Carpophilus 

 hemiptertts. 



