118 



INTRODUCTION. 



brilliant colours and elegant appearance, which are found for the 



most part in tropical forests and occur 

 chiefly in fungoid growths on timber. 

 They are well represented in Asia, 

 especially in the Indo-Malay region, 

 and several interesting and con- 

 spicuous species are characteristic of 

 the Indian fauna, among which may 

 be mentioned Eucteanus (from the 

 Himalayas), Amphisternus, Ancylopus, 

 Eumorphus, Stenotarsus, and Trochoides-, 

 the European genus Lycoperclina is 

 also represented. 



Dr. Sharp separates the Myce- 

 tjessm as a distinct family, but if this 

 Fig. 53. — Eumorphus is adopted, the DacotM should also 

 margined us. be removed from the Eeotylid^e ; we 



have therefore retained them. The 

 European Mycetcea Jiirta is a small Cryptophagus-like insect that 

 is found in cellars, about beer-drippings, and in fungi. 



In shape and size the members of the family vary from small, 

 almost hemispherical, insects of not more than one millimetre in 

 length to some of the most conspicuous and striking species that 

 are to be found among the moderate-sized Coleoptera. 



The larvae of a few species have been described ; they are 

 broader and more ovate than in the allied families. The larva of 

 Endomychus coccineus seems to bear a strong analogy to that of 

 certain SiLPHiDiE. Bates has described those of Corynomalus 

 discoideus and Stenotarsus obtusus ; the former is oval and convex, 

 fleshy below but with the upper side rough and more or less 

 granulose and squamose ; the sides of the thoracic segments are 

 dilated and foliaceous ; the colour is sooty black above with a 

 yellow margin, and with a double row of velvety black oval spots 

 surrounded with a border of lighter scales ; there are also trans- 

 verse lines of scales towards the sides ; the antennas are rather 

 long and cylindrical, and the tarsi one-jointed, terminated by a 

 simple claw. The larva of Stenotarsus obtusus is less convex, oblong- 

 oval, enlarged behind, and covered with long pale hairs, and with 

 the abdominal segments, except the apical one, prolonged into 

 obtuse lobes : the colour is yellow variegated with black ; the 

 larvae undergo their transformations on the surface of the trees on 

 which their fungoid food is situated usually iu the cracks and 

 crevices. 



The following is Gerstaeeker's table modified by Gorham and 

 Chapuis, and slightly altered in arrangement, etc. : — 



I. Tarsi distinctly 4 -jointed, the third joint being 

 usually smaller than the second, which is 

 simple ; very rarely (Mychophilus, Clemmys) 

 3-jointed, 



