174 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
conspicuous ; the femora hollowed on the under side ; 
the tibiae angulated ; and no bilobed lamellae to the 
tarsi. 
Their larvae, which feed on water-plants, differ con- 
siderably from those of the Dascillina (which some- 
what resemble the Lamellicorn type), being more like 
those of the genus Silpha. 
The perfect insects are obtained by sweeping in 
marshy places, beating sallows, &c. ; and are ex- 
tremely difficult to obtain in good condition, on account 
of their slender and slightly articulated limbs, which 
often come to pieces on being touched with even a 
camel’s-hair brush in mounting. They are mostly 
yellowish-brown in colour, with no sculpture, and 
short silky pubescence. The rare Prionooyphon has 
on two or three occasions been found in ants’ nests ; 
though it is a mystery how or why it got there. 
Scirtes is conspicuous for the great development of 
its hinder femora, and the large curved outer spur at 
the apex of the tibiae of the same legs ; the inner spur 
beiug shorter. S. hemisphsericus , a flat, black insect, 
is abundant in marshy places at Weybridge aud else- 
where; and jumps strongly, after the manner of the 
Ealticina, for a member of which tribe it might 
readily be mistaken by a novice who failed to notice 
its five-jointed tarsi. It has a pleasing habit of drop- 
ping its hind legs entirely when handled; and shares 
the fragility of its allies. Eubria palustris, a small 
black insect with rather deeply furrowed elytra, differs 
from the rest of the Cyphonina chiefly in having the 
mesosternum level and square instead of concave, and 
the prosternal projection not narrow but wide and flat, 
gradually lessened behind, aud uniting with the meso- 
