628 FAMILY XXVI. — NITIDULID.i;. 



Putnam County; rare. April 17. Sifted from debris near a 

 hillside spring. 



Family XXVI. XITIDULID^]. 



The Sap-peeding Beetles. 



This is a family of medium size, comprising small and usually 

 somewhat flattened beetles. Tn most species the thorax has wide, 

 thin side margins and the elytra are often truncate at apex, thus 

 leaving the end of the abdomen exposed. In food habits they vary 

 much, a few being found on flowers and others on fungi or carrion. 

 The great majority, however, feed on the sap or juices of various 

 trees and fruits, especially that which has begun to ferment or sour. 

 They can be found in numbers in early spring wherever sap exudes 

 from trees, especially those of maple. 



Dury says that he has trapped hundreds by laying chips on top 

 of a freshly cut maple stump. Under these chips, in a day or two, 

 were congregated twenty or more species and hundreds of indi- 

 viduals. A mixture of vinegar with brown sugar or molasses will 

 also attract them if spread on a log in the woods and then covered 

 with chips. In late sum.mer and early autumn certain species, es- 

 pecially those of /]j,9, are often found in or under partially decayed 

 apples, pears or melons. They are therefore to be classed as in- 

 noxious, rather than either beneficial or harmful in habit; though 

 the larvEe of the genera Ips, Carpophilus and Bhizophagus have 

 been shown to be, in part at least, carnivorous, subsisting upon the 

 soft bodied larvae of other beetles which live under bark. 



The name Niiidula, applied by Fabricius to the typical genus, 

 is very inappropriate for the family, since it literally means shining 

 or clrganL, whereas the K'reat majority of the species are clothed 

 with a fine pubescence which does not iierniit of their shining to any 

 great extent. 



The principal characters distinguishing the Nitidu- 

 lida^ are: .Vnleunae 11- rarely 10-jointed, terminating 

 ill a round or oval club of three, rarely t\\-o, joints ;uid 

 inserted under 1he mariiin of the front; thorax witli 

 base sometimes closely uuitiiig willi that of el>trj, 

 Fis. 237. Nitiduia. sometimcs passing over the liase of the latter (Fisr. 



1, front tarsus; 2, an- c\r,^\ i , n , , ,- , „ ^ 



tenna. (After West- ^o I ) ; elytra Usually tnnieate, sometimes entire- front 

 coxa? transverse, separated, not prominent; middle 

 and hind coxa' transverse, flat, widely sepa.rated, the latter extend- 

 ing almost 111 the margin of the body: ahdoiiie'i with five free veil- 



