THE WATER SCAVENGER BEETLES. 



265 



finely and indistinctly punctate, more coarsely at the sides. Elytra more 

 coarsely but less closely punctate than thorax. Femora of all the legs 

 densely punctulate and pubescent. Length 2-2.5 mm. 



Marion and Putnam counties; scarce. April 16-October 17. 

 Both this and the preceding were sifted from debris taken from the 

 margins of hillside springs. 



Tribe IV. SPHJERIDIINI. 



To this tribe belong a number of small, convex, oval or hemi- 

 spherical beetles, which live in damp places in decaying vegeta- 

 tion or in the dung of herbivorous mammals. The color is usually 

 black or piceous, with the elytra frequently spotted or margined 

 with pale yellow and, in most genera, possessing ten rows of punc- 

 tures or strias; legs not fitted for swimming; first joint of middle 

 and hind tarsi elongate. Four genera are represented in Indiana. 



KEY TO INDIANA GENERA OF SPH^ERIDIINT. 



a. Sides of elytra not extended below the lower surface of body. 



Elytra not inflexed ; epipleura horizontal, distinct; prosternum cari- 

 nate at middle. 



c. Larger species, 5 or more mm.; scutellum elongate; antenna? eight- 

 jointed; last dorsal segment visible. XVII. Sph^ridium. 

 co. Smaller species, 3 mm. or less; scutellum equilateral; antennae 

 nine-jointed; last dorsal segment covered. XVIII. Cercyon. 

 66. Elytra inflexed, clasping the sides of body, without distinct epi- 

 pleura; prosternum elevated at middle, forming a large pentagonal 

 area ; thorax not margined ; length 1.5-2 mm. 



XIX. Cryptopleurum.- 



aa. Elytra extended below the lower surface of body, the punctuation con- 

 fused, without trace of stria?; first ventral segment not carinate; 

 length 3-3.5 mm. XX. Phcenonotum. 



XVII. Speueridium Fab. 1755. (Gr., "ball or sphere + little.") 

 517 (1662). Sphjeridium scaeabjeoides Linn., Faun. Suec, 1761, 145. 



Oval or subglobose, convex. Above black, shining; elytra with a red- 

 dish sub-basal spot and the apical fourth yellowish; beneath piceous, the 

 femora spotted with paler. Thorax and elytra finely and evenly punctured, 

 the latter without striae. Length 5.5-6.5 mm. 



A recently introduced European species, taken from beneath 

 rubbish on the beach of Lake Michigan at Pine, and Whiting, Lake 

 County; at Lake Maxinkuckee, Marshall County, and on the shore 

 of the Ohio River at New Albany; scarce. April 16-October 23. 



XVIII. Cercyon Leach. 1817. (A mythological name.) 



Small black or piceous beetles with more or less yellow on the 

 tips of elytra, They have the middle coxa? narrowly separated; 



