THE PALPICORNIA OR HYDRO PHIT.IDAE. 
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habits, though many frequent damp situations ; the 
majority, however, are found in the dung of cattle. 
Their tarsi are not natatorial, and have the first 
joint of the posterior pair much longer than the others ; 
their antennas have either eight or nine joints, and the 
second joint of their maxillary palpi is more or less 
inflated. The species are nearly all very small, black, 
and convex, being, as a rule, at most variegated with 
dull red spots. Cyclonotum, the largest, is aquatic and 
very globose ; the species of Sphxridium and Cercyon 
abound in cow-droppings, &c. The allied Hegastemum 
and Cryptopleurum are distinguished by their very 
large prosternum and metasternum ; and the former 
may be known from Cercyon by the notch at the apex 
of the outer edge of its front tibias. 
