256 



COLEOPTERA 



possesses several finger-like pouches that can he exstulpated at 

 the end of the bodj. It is probable that these larvae are carni- 

 vorous. The imas'o of this Insect abounds on the bushes alonff 

 the banks of some of the rapid watei's of Scotland ; according to 

 Tournier, when alarmed, it enters the water and goes beneath it 

 for shelter. The third form of larva belongs to the genus Euci- 

 netus, it lives on fungoid matter on wood, and has ordinary 

 antennae of only four joints.^ It is very doubtful whether 

 Eucinetus is related to other Dascyllidae ; some authorities indeed 

 place it in Silphidae. 



Fam. 59. Rhipiceridae. — Tarsi five-jointed, furnished with 

 a rohust onychium (a straight chitinous process hearing hairs) 



tetween the claws ; antennae of 



the inale bearing long processes, 

 and sometimes consisting of a 

 large number of joints. Man- 

 dibles robust, strongly curved, 

 and almost ccdliper-like in 

 form. This small family of 

 less than 100 species is widely 

 distributed, though confined to 

 the warmer regions of the 

 earth, a single species oecur- 

 ling in the extreme south of 

 Eastern Europe. Very little 

 is known as to the natural 

 history. The larva of Calli- 

 rhi2ris dejeani (Fig. 133, A) is 

 described by Schiodte as hard, 

 cylindrical in form, and peculi- 

 arly truncate behind, so that 

 there appear to be only eight 

 abdominal segments, the ninth 

 segment being so short as to 



look like an operculum at the extremity of the body. It lives 



in wood. 



Fam. 60. Elateridae {Click-beetles). — Antennae more or less 



serrate along the inner margin, frequently pectinate, rarely 



filiform. Front coxae small, spherical. Thorax usually with 

 1 Perris, A7m. Hue. ent. France (2) i.\. 1851, p. 48. 



Fig. 133. — A, Larva of CaUirhipis de 



(after Schiodte) ; B, Rhipicera mystacina 

 male, Australia ; C, under side of its hind 

 foot. 



