138 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
sides of the thorax crenulated, as in its ally Corticaria, 
the species of which are more convex and cylindrical, 
and have the front coxae more approximated. 
The CucujiMi have five ventral segments to the 
abdomen, all of which are free; the tarsi either all 
five-jointed in both sexes, or with four joints to the 
posterior in the male, and their antennae filiform or 
with a club at the apex. They mostly live under 
bark, and are generally rare ; the little spotted Psam- 
maiehus, however, occurs commonly in marshy places ; 
and Silvanus and Nausibiux (both very like Mono- 
tcnna) comprise species for the greater part introduced 
here from abroad. The diminutive Leemophloei (in 
which the maxillm are hooked) are found (often 
gregariously) in small twigs, and under bark. 
The family Byturid.e comprises the puzzling genus 
Byturus, which has been shifted about to a con- 
siderable extent by authors : it was originally placed 
by Latreille among the Nitidulidse ; then in the Mely- 
ridse by Erichson ; subsequently, by Kedtenbacher 
and LacorJaire in the Dermestidse ; and, lastly, by 
Thomson, again returned to the Nitidulidse, but asso- 
ciated with such heterogeneous neighbours as Thyma- 
lus and Mioropeplus ; many writers associate it with 
Telmatophilus, to which it appears to bear a close 
relation, and regard it as belonging to the Malaco- 
dermata. 
Byturus has the tarsi five-jointed and velvety 
beneath ; the second and third joints produced into 
long side lappets, the first and fourth being very small 
(the latter hidden between the lobes of the third), and 
the fifth as long as all the rest together, with the 
apical hooks much curved, and furnished with a 
