LAND SCAVENGER-BEETLES. 
05 
color, usually fouud under the bark of decaying trees. Their antennae 
are short, but reaching back, at most, beyond the middle of the thorax. 
The club consists of three somewhat moniliform joints, not conspicuously 
larger than the preceding ones. The tarsi are apparently four jointed, 
the first joint being so short that it cannot be seen from above; the last 
joint is very long, often as long as all the others united. In Trogosita 
proper, the thorax is separated from the abdomen by a short neck or 
strangulation. The larva of Trogosita is a whitish flattened grub, with 
a pair of black spots on the top of the three first segments. The tail 
terminates in two horny points. 
Number of N. A. species, forty. 
fFig. 27. 
Family XX. CUCUJIDaE. 
The insects of this family are most conspicuously distinguished by 
their very flat bodies and by their projecting 
mandibles. Antennae usually longer than 
the head and thorax, filiform, and generally 
grauose or moniliform. In the small sub- 
^ family of Silvanides, the three last joints are 
moderately enlarged. The tarsi, like those 
of the preceding family, are apparently four 
jointed, the first joint being very small. Both 
Cucujus cla virus. Fabr.:— a, larva; f ... , _ 
c, e, enlarged back and side views of 01 tlieSC iaillllies ar<3 Classed DV Latreillc With 
its anal joint; d, of its head ; b, beetle. . i m T . . 
—after Riley. tlie aetramera. Most of these insects are 
brown, but some of the Cucuji proper are of a bright red color. They 
are fouud under the bark of trees, but the larvae, so far as they have 
been observed, are found to be carnivorous. M. Perris discovered the 
larvm of Brontes planatus feeding upon Podurse, acari, and the lame of 
the wood-boring beetles of the genus Tomicus. And in England, Mr. 
C. 0. Babington and Mr. Westwood saw the Cucujus testaceus in abund- 
ance in granaries, from which, in connection with the similarity of the 
lame, we may conclude that they have the same useful habit as the in- 
sects of the preceding family in counteracting the ravages of the de- 
structive grain worms. 
Number of described N. A. species, forty- two. 
The following is a table of the principal genera : 
A. Antrim;!' moniliform, not thickened at tho tip, half us long as the body, or loss ; sizo, moro than 
one-quarter of an inch in length. 
11. Posterior angles of the head rounded and proiuinont ; color, scarlet Cucujus. 
11 11. Posterior angles ol tho head not prominent i color, brown Catogknus. 
A A. Antenna) sub-moniliforin, more than half as long as tho body, usually a littlo thickoued at tho 
tip; size, very small Lajmoi’iu.ucus. 
A A A. Antenna) long and filiform, first joint elongated ; size, small Bbontes.* 
A A A A. Antenna) with the last three joints forming a loose club ; sizo, very small Silvanus. 
* rIli * ““i given to this genus by Fabricius, is discarded in Mr. Crotch's Check List as having been 
prcuecupiod, and Uliota. Lutreille, substituted. 
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