122 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
strongly hatchet-shaped and more or less elongate. 
The elytra are always more or less distinctly punctured 
in this genus, which, with Bryaxis, is apterous. 
In Tychus, the fifth joint of the antennae is much 
enlarged in the male. 
The species of Trichonyx are of considerable rarity, 
and of (comparatively) large size ; they are light testa- 
ceous in colour, of more elongate shape, and with the 
antennae widely distant at the base instead of approxi- 
mated, as in the preceding. They have been taken 
uuder bark, among black ants in a tree, with yellow 
ants under stones, and (in greater quantity) from 
moss. 
Th eEuplecti resemble Trichonyx iu miniature, having 
the antennae distant at the base, but they are more 
linear and less convex, and occur in rotten wood, 
refuse heaps, cut grass, &c., being, moreover, often 
taken on the wing. 
Three species, E. nanus (Plate XVI., Fig. 5), signa- 
tus, and Earst.enii, are not uncommonly found together 
in decaying vegetable matter ; and the collector, who 
has the means of doing so, should not fail to keep a 
heap of dead leaves, compost, twigs, and cut grass in 
his garden, as it will be found a constant trap for 
these and many other species. 
The Trichopterygid® (by far the most minute of 
all Coleoptera, most of them being less than the sixth 
of a line long) have eleven-jointed antennae, which 
are long, very slender, beset with hairs, with a very 
large basal joint, and an abrupt three-jointed club ; 
their elytra are either truncate behind or cover the 
abdomen entirely ; their wings (which are sometimes 
rudimentary) are usually twice as long as the body, 
