180 
THE ORDER OF OOLEOPTERA. 
The following table gives the principal distinctive characters of the 
two families of this tribe : 
A. Tarsi apparently 4-jointcd, sometimes 5-jointed; antenna; usually shorter than 
the head and thorax, and with a club of from three to six joints; maxillary 
palpi usually terminated by a wide securiform joint. Thorax convex : 
Erotyltm;. 
A A. Tarsi apparently 8-jointed, sometimes 4-jointed. Antennae usually as long as 
the head and thorax, or longer, with the two or three terminal joints slightly 
enlarged; maxillary palpi nearly cylindrical, labials sometimes enlarged at 
the end. Thorax usually with three depressions at the base, and with a 
wide lateral margin Endomychid,®. 
Family LXII. EROTYLID^E. 
This is a family of moderate extent founded upon the genus Erotylus, 
of .Fabricius, a term borrowed directly from the Greek, and meaning 
friendly or pleasing — probably in allusion to the contrasted colors of 
many of the species. They are of moderate or small size, only a few 
species of Dacne and Erotylus proper attaining to half an inch in 
length, whilst the great majority are less than a quarter. The most 
common coloration is a red thorax with black, or black and red elytra, 
or the reverse ; but some species are unicolorous. 
(Fig. 90.J 
Cypherotylus Bojsduvalj, Chev.: — a, b, larva, side aud back views; c, d, pupa, under and upper 
sides; e, beetle, natural size ; i, antenna ; j, palpus; g, tarsus from below ; li, terminal joint of 
same from above— after liiley. 
The leading characters have been given in the preceding table aud iu 
the general description of the tribe. We will only repeat here that the 
two principal characters by which they are distinguished from other 
fungus-eating beetles are their widened tarsi, covered beneath with a 
dense brush of hair-like papillae, with the last joint but one usually 
bilobed, and the form of the terminal joint of the maxillary palpi — 
which with a few exceptions is broadly triangular, whilst the pentame- 
rous and heteromerous fungivorous beetles have slender tarsi, at most 
loosely haired on the under side, and the palpi of the same width 
throughout, or, in some of the Diaperidae, a little widened at the end. 
These insects usually inhabit the fungi which grow upon trees, but we 
have found several species of Lauguria upon flowers, especially the 
umbellifera. 
