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FAMILY XXI — C UC V J IDJE 



Family XXI. CUCUJIDAE. 

 The Flat Bark Beetles. 



The Cucujidae constitute a small family of very depressed elon- 

 gate beetles. As Mr. Bury has well said : ' ' The members of the 

 family are striking examples of forms modified for an existence 

 under the loose, elose-lying\bark of trees, enabling them to squeeze 

 into crevices, where they find food for their larvae, and which the 

 eternally vigilant ant cannot penetrate." The name "Cucujus" 

 is of South American origin, and its meaning is not certain. It is 

 said to be applied by the natives to a luminous snapping beetle 

 (Elater noctilucus L.) of Brazil and adjoining countries. 



From allied families the Cucujidae may be distinguished by 

 having the antennae 11 -jointed, inserted at the margin of the front, 

 sometimes long and slender, sometimes with the outer joints slightly 

 enlarged; scutellum distinct; elytra rounded at tip and covering 

 the abdomen, usually flat and strongly margined ; front coxal cavi- 

 ties widely separated, usually closed behind, though open in some 

 subfamilies, the coxae rounded or subglobular, not prominent; 

 middle coxae small, subtriangular, not prominent ; hind coxae nearly 

 contiguous, transverse; abdomen with five free ventral segments, 

 equal in length ; legs rather short, femora large ; tibiae slender, ter- 

 minated by two spurs. 



The larvae of the Cucujidae, as far as known, are flattened grubs 

 with distinct antennae and several simple eyes, the terminal seg- 

 ment ending in hooks or tubercles. Like the mature beetles they 

 live under bark, and some of them are carnivorous, feeding upon 

 mites, podurids and small larvae of wood-boring beetles, so that in 

 general they may be regarded as beneficial. However, two of the 

 beetles, Silvanus surinamensis , and Cathartus advena, infest stored 

 grain, dried fruits and other stores, and are therefore often quite 

 injurious. 



The principal literature treating of the North American forms 

 is as follows : 



LeConte. — "Revision of the Cueuiides of the United States," 

 in Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Scl, VII, 1854, 73-79. 



Casey. — "Revision of the Cucujidae of America North of 

 Mexico," in Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, XI, 1884, 69-112. 



Wickham. — "The Cucujidae of Ontario and Quebec," in Can. 

 Ent. XXVII, 1895, 25-29. 



