862 - FAMILY XLTXI. — PTINIDJ'). 



transversely rugose with rows of rather coarse punctures at base. Length 

 3.5-6 mm. 



Indiana, Stein collection; frequent. 



1648 (5232). Nbcrobia violacea Linn., Syst. Nat. (ed. 10), 1758, 356. 



Elongate-oblong, robust. Uniform dark blue or green. Head and tho- 

 rax rather coarsely and densely punctate. Elytra with rows of rather 

 coarse punctures, becoming fainter behind the middle ; intervals irregular, 

 finely punctulate. Length 3.2-4.5 mm. 



Lake, Vigo. Dubois, Crawford and Posey counties; frequent. 

 April ll-l\Iay 17. This and the other two species occur together 

 with Dermestids and certain Nitidulids on the bones and skins of 

 old carrion. The Dermestids are known as "skin beetles" and the 

 species of Neerobia and the Nitidulids which occur with them as 

 "bone beetles." 



Family XLIII. PTINID.^. 



The Death-watch Beetles. The Drug Store Beetles. 



A family of medium size containing species rarely exceeding 

 one-fourth of an inch in length, Avhich live for the most part on drj- 

 vegetable or animal matter, usually the former, which is just be- 

 ginning to decay. Many of them are therefore found about cellars, 

 old houses and outbuildings, into the woodwork of which they bore, 

 making meanwhile a ticking sound that gives them the name of 

 "death-watch." Others occur in drug and grocery stores, where 

 they feed upon cayenne pepper, cigars, dried roots, etc., and still 

 others in the forest and open woodland beneath the bark and dead 

 leaves. They vary greatly in form, so that no general popular 

 description is possible, and only the fact that the thorax extends 

 forward in a hood-like fashion over the head is of general applica- 

 tion. The head is usually well bent under, and not visible from 

 above, and the general color is either cinnamon-brown or black. 

 The name Ptimts, that of the typical genus upon which the family 

 name is based, is from a Greek word meaning "to decay" or 

 "destroy," and applies to the habits of the best known species, 

 which have been carried by commerce over the entire globe. 



The principal characters of the Ptinidaj, briefly stated, are as 

 follows : Maxillae exposed at base, with two eiliate lobes, the palpi 

 short, four-jointed; antennae inserted upon the front (Ptininge) or 

 lit the Hides of the front in the other subfamily, variable in form, 



