HETEROMEROUS EUNGIJS-BEETLES. 
125 
Family LIV. DIAPElUDyE. 
This small family is founded upon the genus 
Diaperis, of Geoffroy, a term derived from a 
Greek word meaning to pass through , and 
suggested probably by the perfoliate charac- 
ter of the antenme, in which the axis appears 
to pass through the dilated joints ; or, the 
name may have had reference to the habits 
of the larva;, in perforating the fungi upon 
which they feed. The short and more or less 
DlAFEllIB HYDNI. T*';ibr. : — a, larva; ,, , . .. 
&, beetle : c, underside of head of lar* perfoliate character oi the antennae, distlll- 
va; d , leg of same; e, antenna of . , , . . .. . 
beetle— after Rtiey. guishes these insects from all the other Heter- 
ornera except the sub-family of Ulomides. Their other leading charac- 
ters have been already described in speaking of the tribe which they 
constitute. The following are the principal genera : 
A. Body somewhat square-shaped and rough. First .joint of tarsi very short. (Sub-family linlito- 
phagides) V BolitophaoDS, 4 sp. 
A A. Body oval and smooth. First joint of tarsi usually longer than tho second. (Sub-family Aim- 
perides.) 
B. Antenm© shorter than the thorax, and perfoliate. Last joint of maxillary palpi elongated. 
C. Head unarmed. 1st joint of hind tarsi as long as tho 2d. Length of body quarter of au inch or 
upwards. Colors black, with reddish-yellow spots DlAPEiUS, 2. 
C C. Hoad of the males usually with two boras or tubercles. 1st joint of hind tarsi as long as 2d 
and 3d united. Length less than £ inch. Color black or bronzed green, without spots. 
Thorax sometimes red HOPLOCEP Hala, 2. 
B B. Antenna longer than thorax, almost moniliform. Last joint of maxillary palpi triangular. 
First joint of tarsi longer than 2d and 3d. Surface often pruinose or mealy ; usually without 
Spots * I’LATY DBM A, 14. 
The Bolitophagus cornutus, Panzer, is one of our most remarkable in- 
sects. It is a thick-bodied beetle of a dark wood-brown color, and a 
rough or tubereulated surface, and varying from less than four to nearly 
five-tenths of an inch in length. The male is distinguished by two flat- 
tened horns on the top of the thorax, which curve forwards, and which 
are clothed on the under side with an orange pubesceuse. It is often 
found undef the bark of old stumps and prostrate logs. The genus Di- 
aperis proper is represented in this country by the I), hydni, Fab., (Fig. 
58,) which is common throughout tho Middle and Eastern States. One 
other species, the 1). rufipes, Horn, is found in Arizona. Hoplocephula , 
a term meaning armed head, in allusion to the horns on the heads of the 
males, contains two species: the bicornis, Oliv., wholly of a metallic- 
green color, and the viridipennis , Fab., similar, but with a red thorax, 
They are both a tenth of an inch long, or a little more. As the former 
is described as sometimes having a brownish thorax, it is probable they 
are only varieties of the same species. Platydema contains fourteen 
species, as indicated in Dr. Horn’s Revision of N. A. Tenebrionidm, of 
which the four following are the most common : the americanum and 
