NITIDULIDJE. 



105 



Hi. Tarsi apparently 3-jointed, but really 

 4-jointed, with the third joint very 



small; body elongate Smicripin^. 



II. Antennae apparently 10-jointed with a 



1 -jointed club* Rhizop.iaginje. 



Dr. Sharp is of opinion that the Phizophagiio-; should be 

 brought under the Cucujid-E, and that certain insects now placed 

 under Mojntotomidje should also be regarded as belonging to the 

 Cucujid.e and assigned a position near Rliizophagus (Biol. Centr.- 

 Amer., Coleopt. ii, pt. i, p. 500). 



The position of the Nitidtjlidjs, as a whole, can hardly be 

 regarded as settled, but they certainly come very near to the 

 Trogositidje, and the position assigned to them by Sharp, 

 between the Phalacrid.e and the last named family, is as 

 good as any that can be adopted in the present state of our 

 knowledge, though in some points they are connected with the 

 Histerid.e. Several of the larvae have been described by Pern's 

 and others. They do not present any striking peculiarities, being 

 elongate and more or less tapering ; the abdominal segments often 

 have tubercles on the margins, and bristles or small tubercles on 

 the back ; the last segment is usually terminated with a pair of 

 hooks, and in some cases (e. g. Soronia) there are two additional 

 hooks on the back of the segment ; the antennas are usually 

 4-jointed, but in some cases they appear to be 3- or even 2-jointed ; 

 the legs are short and terminated by a single claw. The small 

 larvaB of some of the flower-haunting species, such as Meligethes, 

 occasionally do much damage to cultivated Cruciferae, especially 

 rape and mustard. 



The family is evidently numerous in India, but has not been 

 worked until quite recently ; more species have been described from 

 Ceylon than from any other part of the region. The cosmopolitan 

 genus Carpophilus is well represented (23 species occurring in 

 India), and several species of Nitidula, Meligethes, Ejmrcm, and 

 C tjbocephalus have been described ; a few genera are peculiar to 

 India and Ceylon, such as Nitidulopsis, Cametis, Idocoloast^(s, and 

 Idcethina. Among others, the following may be mentioned as 

 represented : Brachypeplus, Orthogramma, Pria, Pocadius. Ampld- 

 crossus, Cryptarcha, Cyllodes, Omosita, and Lasiodactyhis. Grouvelle 

 (Ann. Soc. Ent. Prance, vol. Ixxvii, 1908, pp. 325-397) notices or 

 describes 150 species from the Indian region. 



* The eleventh joint may be considered as merged in the tenth, but, as I 

 have said before (Brit. Col. hi, p. 26o), I have soaked a specimen for a long 

 time in caustic potash and mounted it in Canada balsam and examined it under 

 a compound microscope without discovering any real suture. 



