68 FAMILIES OF PETALOCERA, ETC. 



marks will probably be found in the exserted labrum of the 

 Anoplognathidtz, and in the transverse suture of the cly- 

 peus and porrect sternum of the Rutelidcs ; one or other 

 of which characters is always observable in such insects 

 as are most likely to be confounded with the Dynastida. 



On the whole then, the preceding descriptions indicate 

 the existence of a circular group consisting of five families, 

 the colour of which is almost always lurid or black. The in- 

 sects composing this group have the clava always short and 

 thick, with a number of articulations to the antennas, which 

 varies from eight to eleven. Their feet are always robust, 

 and the ungues of their tarsi, when they exist, are undi- 

 vided. Such are the few vague circumstances which, 

 together with the nature of their food (which is invariably 

 in a state of putrescence or decomposition), are almost all 

 the external characters that can be ascribed to the Sapro- 

 phagous Petalocera. 



