BOSTRYCHJDiE. — LYCTIDiE. 



145 



Upwards of 180 species of the family are known ; they are very 

 widely distributed over the greater part of the world, but very few 

 have been recorded from India, although three or four genera are 

 represented. The species vary very considerably in size. Sharp 

 says that the Californian species Dmapate wrightii, which has a 

 larva very similar to that of Apate capucina, and is found feeding 

 in stems of a species of Yucca, attains a length of nearly two 

 inches, and he also says that some of the species " stridulate in a 

 manner peculiar to themselves, by rubbing the front legs against 

 some projections at the hind angle of the prothorax." As a rule 

 the species feed in dry wood, to which they sometimes do great 

 damage. 



Family 65. LYCTIDiE. 



Closely allied to the BOkSTRYCHIBvE, but distinguished by having the 

 club of the antennae distinctly t wo-jointed, and the first visible ventral 

 segment of the abdomen elongate, and cdso by the fact that the anterior 

 coxal cavities are closed behind ; form elongate and narrow ; posterior 

 coxa} tuidely separated ; tarsi five-jointed, with the first joint vert/ 

 short or obsolete ; tibial spiws distinct. 



The members of the family are small elongate insects that are 

 found in and about wood which has been freshly cut, or in old 

 stumps, etc. They are few in number, but are very widely dis- 

 tributed ; two or three species of Lyctus have been recorded from 

 Ceylon. 



The Ltctid^ are often regarded as a subfamily of the Bostry- 

 ciiiDiE, and they are certainly closely related to the latter family. 

 The larvae are very similar, being in both cases broad in front and 

 narrowed behind, and having a very small head. Lameere (Ann. 

 Soc. Ent. Belg. ix, 1900, p. 359) is of opinion that the structure of 

 the larva is a decisive argument for placing them together, and 

 believes that they have a common ancestor and are not descended 

 the one from the other. Leconte and Horn, Sharp, and others 

 consider them to be too nearly related to be separated, and the 

 genus Binoderus is somewhat intermediate • but the differentiating 

 characters seem as important as those which separate other 

 families, and it seems preferable to keep them distinct for the 

 present. 



[Family 66. SPHINDID^.] 



Minute insects of oblong or globidar form; antennce inserted in 

 front of the eyes, ten-jointed, with the first two joints thickened and 

 the last joints forming an elongate club as long as the basal portion ; 



L 



