CUPEDID^E. 



69 



keeps the Cupedid^e by themselves as his first group of the 

 Coleoptera, the Protadephaga. In his later work (Zeitsch. 

 Wiss. Insectenbiol. iv, 1908, pp. 153, 246, 390) he very much 

 modifies this opinion, and removes them from the Adephaga 

 altogether. The family seems to bear relations to the Teredilia 

 of authors, and it is placed by Lacordaire between his Lymexyloxes 

 and Ptixiores. Lameere (Ann. Soc. Ent. Belgique, xliv, 1900, 

 p. 359) considers Cupes to be closely allied to Lymexylon, as one 

 of the most primitive of all beetles, but in his second paper, 

 before referred to, he divides the Adephaga into Cupediporhia 

 and Carabipormia, making the former the lowest group of the 

 Coleoptera. 



We are inclined to agree with this latter view. The wing 

 venation has decided affinities towards that of the Adephaga (see 

 p. 41), and the presence of sutures separating the pronotum and 

 the pleurae seems to be a very strong point in the same direction. 

 The presence of such sutures, as pointed out by Mr. C. J. Gahan 

 (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) v, 1910, p. 57), seems to be confined 

 to the Adephaga, and, in his opinion, is one of the most distinctive 

 characters of that suborder. These sutures are well marked in 

 Omma and Tetraplialerus, and are present, although not so distinct, 

 in Cupes. It is true that they apparently occur in a few other 

 genera, apart from the Adephaga, as in Crymodes (Pythid^;) etc., 

 but there are no true sutures in these cases. Apart from these 

 characters we should be inclined to class the Cupedid^e with the 

 Malacodermata, especially the Lycix^e. 



The insects belonging to the genus Cupes are somewhat like 

 Cantharis (Telepliorus) in general shape ; they possess long and 

 stout antennae, which, in some species at any rate, are thickened 

 and serrate for about half their length ; superficially they are quite 

 unlike the Adephaga. Very little is known of their habits, and 

 what is known does not appear to point to their being carnivorous. 

 Say (Boston Journ. Nat. Hist, i, p. 168) says of Cupes cinerea that 

 it is common in old houses made of wood, from which Lacordaire 

 argues that it is a wood-feeding insect like most of the Ptixid^e ; 

 it may, however, be parasitic, like Corynetes, Teretrius, Trypanazus, 

 etc. The few species of Cupes known are found in North and 

 South America and the Philippine Islands, one also occurring, 

 rather strangely, in Eastern Siberia, Japan, and Burma. The 

 typical Omma stanleyi is found in Australia. 



