TENEBBJ0NIDJ5. 



159 



ii. Prothorax with the margins produced 

 into sharp edges which are dentate; 

 size very large ; shape resembling that 



of a large Prionid (Longicornia) . . Trictenotomidae, p. 174. 



Family 71. TENEBRIONID.E. 



Form very variable ; antennae, eleven- rarely ten- jointed, inserted 

 laterally before the eyes under a frontal ridge ; anterior coxae 

 globose, sometimes slightly transverse, coxal cavities closed behind ; 

 intermediate coxai rounded, with or without trochantins, posterior 

 coxai transverse ; elytra usually covering abdomen; abdomen ivith 

 five ventral segments, of which the first three are more or less closely 

 connected; tarsal joints not lobed beneath, claws simple. 



In the Munich Catalogue (1870) 583 genera and 4222 species 

 of Tekebrioinid.e are enumerated, and Mr. Champion in his 

 Supplementary list (Mem. Soc. Ent. Belg. iii, 1895) enumerates 

 430 more genera and 5063 more species, so that the present 

 number known must be well over 10,000. So far as the Indian 

 fauna is concerned very little interest has been taken in the 



6 



Fig. 68. — Toxicum quaclricome, male, and head and thorax of female, 



family^ about 40 genera are represented in the Catalogue of 

 Gemminger and von Harold, and between 30 and 40 in the 

 Supplement, but the number of species is proportionally very 

 small and does not amount to more than about 300 ; in fact, in 

 the Supplement only some 70 or 80 species out of the 5000 

 are recorded as from India and Ceylon. 



Allusion has already been made to the larvae, which are 

 tough and cylindrical, and resemble the "wire-worms" of the 

 Elatekid^e, the chief differences consisting in the non-connate 

 clypeus, the large and plainly visible labruin, and the less complex 

 terminal segment of the abdomen. The pupae appear to be broad 

 in proportion to the larvae and to be furnished with extensions at 



