HETEROMERA. 



155 



This is a small family, containing some half-dozen genera and 

 from 100 to 150 species ; they are very small and inconspicuous 

 insects, and are found by sweeping herbage or flowers, at the 

 roots of grass, in moss, on or about dead wood, etc. Nothing 

 much appears to be known about their life-history. They have 

 been classed by some authors with the Eeaterid^e and EucnemldvE, 

 but differ in the fact that the prothorax is firmly articulated with 

 the mesothorax and not loosety as in these latter families, and 

 also in the formation of the anterior coxal cavities ; the species, 

 moreover, have not apparently the power of leaping, if laid on 

 their backs. Gyllenhal (Insec. Suec. i. p. 159) expressly says 

 they can jump like the Elateres, and other authors claim to have 

 observed this, but the truth is still uncertain, and the structure 

 of the prosternum seems to prove that no leaping power is 

 possessed by the family. 



The species are mostly found in Europe and America, and very 

 few have been described from India ; Throscus, Lissomas, and 

 Drapeies are represented by one or two species each, but very few 

 others have been discovered in the region. 



Division 4. HETEROMERA. 



This division, as its name implies, is characterised by the fact 

 that the number of joints in the tarsi vary, those of the hind tarsi 

 being less than those of the two anterior pairs. In an aberrant 

 Old- World genus, Heterotarsus, the joints are 4, 4, 3 respectively, 

 but in the others they are 5, 5, 4, with the single exception of 

 Moplion tinctipennis which has 4-jointed anterior tarsi in the male. 

 A few members of the old Clavicorn series, such as Aniaotoma, 

 Acritus, and PJiizophagus, have the hind tarsi 4-jointed in one 

 or both sexes, and these might perhaps be included under the 

 Heteromera proper with as good reason as some of the species 

 now recognised as belonging to the group. 



In the Munich Catalogue (1870) 6827 species are enumerated, 

 but these have now been increased to 15,000. This is largely 

 due to Mr. Gr. C. Champion, who has done so much valuable work 

 both on this and other groups of the Coleoptera, and to whom I 

 am indebted for much information and kind assistance. The 

 great majority (almost two-thirds) belong to the Tenebrionid^e, 

 and the rest are at present placed under some sixteen or seventeen 

 families, the value of several of these being extremely doubtful. 

 The TenebrkxnidvE, LagriievE, and CisteliEvE with their closed 

 coxal cavities, may perhaps be considered a natural group, but a 

 large proportion of the rest have little, if any, connection with 

 one another, and might in some cases be, with reason, assigned 

 to other groups, of which they are at present regarded as mimics. 



