THE TOOTH-NECKED FUNGUS BEETLES. 



671 



*12S6 (3873). Derodontus maculatus Melsh., Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 

 II, 1844, 115, 



Oblong-oval, convex. Dull brownish- yellow ; ely- 

 tra with a number of irregular, indistinct, more or 

 less connected, darker spots. Thorax about as wide 

 as long, disk coarsely granulate and with a deep me- 

 dian impression ; margins flattened and armed with 

 three or four uneven teeth. Elytra slightly wider be- 

 hind the middle, tips rounded, covering the abdomen ; 

 each with ten rows of large, quadrate punctures. 

 Length 2.5-3 mm. (Fig. 250.) 



Throughout the State; common on fungi and 

 beneath bark of fungus-covered logs. Hiber- 

 nates. April 11-December 10. Kg. 250. x 10. (After sharp.) 



Family XXXI. BYRRHID.E. 



I 



The Pill Beetles. 



Included in this family are short, very convex beetles of small 

 or medium size, having the upper surface more or less clothed or 

 ornamented with hairs or minute scales. The legs of most of the 

 species are very contractile, being capable of being folded up so 

 closely against the body that it is with difficulty that they can be 

 seen. The name Byrrhus, that of the typical genus to which the 

 larger species belong, is derived from the Greek word "bursa," a 

 "hide, " and was given the genus by Linnasus, probably on account 

 of some fancied resemblance in texture of their upper surface. He 

 also gave the specific name pilulus, meaning "a little pill," to a 

 European species, on account of its resemblance to a pill or little 

 ball, and the name "pill-beetle" has been since applied to the mem- 

 bers of the family. The beetles are most common in sandy locali- 

 ties, where they are usually found upon the ground, either beneath 

 cover or burrowing about the roots of the tufts of coarse grasses 

 which grow in such places. The beach of Lake Michigan is a fa- 

 vorite locality for them, and along it most of the species known to 

 occur in the State have been taken. However, one or two species 

 live beneath bark and probably occur throughout the State. 



The principal characters distinguishing the family are the trans- 

 verse mentum; the 11- (rarely 10-) jointed antennae, the outer 

 joints usually forming an elongate club ; presternum short, truncate 

 in front, slightly prolonged and fitting into the mesosternum be- 

 hind; elytra covering the abdomen, which has five ventral seg- 

 ments; front coxas transverse, separated by the prosternum, the 

 [43—23402] 



