NECROPHAGA AND THEIR AERIES. 
117 
The Anisotomina differ from the Silphina in having 
the anterior coxal cavities closed behind, and from both 
the Silphina and Cholevina in having the posterior 
trochanters small and not projecting from the femora ; 
they are also more convex (some, indeed, being quite 
globular), with short legs and antennae, the posterior 
coxae close together, the tarsi variable in number of 
joints, and the mandibles with a blunt tooth at the 
base. They are never found iu animal matter, but chiefly 
in fungi and dead leaves and under rotten bark, being 
mostly commoner towards the north, and more readily 
found in the evening about autumn, especially near 
fir-trees. The males frequently have the hinder femora 
dilated and toothed, the hinder tibiae elongated and 
curved, the basal joints of the front tarsi widened, or 
the left mandible elongated, hooked, or even bearing a 
horn ; in all these cases, however, individuals of smaller 
development often exhibit intermediate conditions, 
sometimes not oven differing from the females in these 
particulars. 
The number of joints in the tarsi is very variable : 
thus, in Hydnohius all the tarsi are five-jointed ; in 
Anisotoma and Cyrtusa the two front pairs have each 
five joints, and the posterior only four; Colenis has the 
two hinder pairs four-jointed and the anterior five- 
jointed ; and in Agaricophagus the front pair are four- 
jointed, whilst the two hinder pairs have only three 
joints. All the above genera have the same number 
of joints in both sexes, but in Liodes, Amphicyllis, and 
Agathidium, the males have five joints to the two front 
pairs and four to the hinder pair ; the females of Liodes 
and Agathidium having either four joints to all the 
tarsi, or five to the front pair and four to the two 
