230 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
in one or two cases forming a rather strong but not 
abrupt club. 
The Tetratomina are very unlike their neighbours, 
having the facies of certain species of Cis, and of some 
of the Dermestidse. Their head is much bent down, 
being scarcely visible from above ; their anterior coxae 
are cylindrical, transverse, separated by a projection . 
of the prosternum, and with their cotyloid cavities 
widely open behind. 
All the species are small, rather cylindrical, and 
strongly punctured, and are found in partly decayed 
wood. One ( Tetratomci Desmarestii, occurring at 
Coombe Wood, and elsewhere) is blackish-green ; 
another (T. fungorum) is blue-black, with a red thorax ; 
and the remaining one ( T . cmcora, roceutly taken in 
some numbers in old stumps near Highgate) is tes- 
taceous, spotted and banded with brownish-black. All 
of them must be considered rare. T. fungorum super- 
ficially resembles certain species of Triplax, but the 
latter genus can be easily known by the f /wee-jointed 
club to its antennas, and the lesser number of joints to 
its tarsi. 
The position of this family is anything but firmly 
established, and it appears to have been placed in its 
present place chiefly faute de mieux. 
The Melandryina have the labial palpi vei’y short, 
and the maxillary palpi much developed, often with 
the joints indented, and with the apical joint very 
large. The claws of their tarsi are simple ; aud the 
upper part of the prothorax is not continued until it is 
confused with the sides, but is distinctly separated by 
a margin. 
They have no neck to the head, which is bent down 
