262 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
having the posterior margins of the second segment of 
the abdomen produced at each side, and extending 
over the third segment to the base of the fourth. 
Bayous, Lyprus, and Hydronomus are all water-plant 
frequenters, frequently found in mud or even under 
water, and very often so encased with crusted dirt as 
to be difficult to distinguish. They have short an- 
tennae, and very slender tarsi, of which the third joint 
is not bilobed, and slightly (if at all) wider than the 
preceding, the apical joint being long. The first and 
second of these genera have the prosternum slightly 
excavated, whilst in tho latter it is level. For this 
reason they have been separated widely in arrange- 
ments ; but they are in reality very closely allied. 
Lyprus, which is very attenuate, and spider-like about 
the legs, has but six joints to the funiculus. 
In Orthochxtes and Trachodes (the former found in 
moss and the latter in old twigs or in rotten wood) 
the scutellum and wings are absent. Both of them 
are set with stiff bristles. 
The species of MagdalAnus, — small, oblong, parallel, 
dull black or bluish insects, — are found in tho spring 
and early summer about dead wood in hedges,' &c., or 
on young trees. They are chiefly conspicuous for the 
close punctuation of their thorax, and the occasionally 
spindle-shaped development of the antennas in the 
male. One species has been roared from larva found 
in burrows under the bark of willow-ti’ees ; and the 
female of another, M. cnrbonarius, found in Scotland, 
has been observed to introduce its eggs into sickly 
branches of pine-trees, the larva eating its way along 
the pith for a considerable distance. After undergoing 
its metamorphosis, the perfect insect escapes by means 
