126 



INTEODUCTlOl^. 



Family 52. GEORYSSIML 



Small compact insects ; antenna inserted under tlie sides of tlie 

 front, short, nine-jointed, with tlie last three joints forming an oval 

 club which is received in a deep prosternal groove ; prosternum very 

 small ; anterior coxae prominent, forming two small plate ( with a 

 fissure between them) concealing the prosternum ; intermediate and 

 posterior cocece distant ; elytra covering abdomen, coarsely sculptured ; 

 legs long, with slender tilice and four-jointed tarsi; abdomen with 

 five free ventral segments, the first very large and the last three free. 



This family consists of one genus only, comprising, as at present 

 known, about two dozen species which are very widely distributed 

 throughout the world, in Europe, North America, Ceylon, 

 Australia, etc. They are apparently closely allied to Elmis, but 

 are quite distinct by reason of the peculiar formation of the pro- 

 sternum and the anterior coxse. The beetles live in sandy or 

 muddy places, and cover themselves with a coating of fine sand or 

 mud, so that they are quite invisible unless they begin to move 

 about ; according to Erichson this covering is cemented together 

 and kept on their backs by a sticky secretion. 



Nothing, apparently, is known of their lanse or life-history. 



Family 53. DRYOPIDiE (PARNIDiE) * 



Form variable ; head usually retractile ; antennce very variable, 

 long or moderately long, serrate or filifoim, or very short with the 

 second joint dilated and ear-shaped ; eyes rounded, sometimes hairy ; 

 all the coxee distant: anterior coxed cavities open behind ; pro- 

 sternum usually elongate, forming a process behind which is 

 received into a cavity of the mesosternum ; epimera of meta- 

 stemum reaching tlie coxed cavities ; legs slender, long or very 

 long ; tarsi elongate, five-jointed, the last joint usucdly as long 

 as all the yjreceding together ; abdomen usucdly with five free 

 visible ventral segments (in Psephenus with seven in the male and 

 six in the femcde). 



The name Detopid^; must be adopted for the family, as the 

 generic name Dryops of Olivier is one year (1791) prior to the 

 Eabrician name Parnus (1792). It consists of about 300 or 400 

 species, as at present known, but is probably much more extensive, 

 as it has been much neglected. Scarcely any have been recorded 

 from India ; Stenelmis, however, is represented by two species 



* Including ELMiDiE. 



