290 
COLEOPTERA. 
The beetles have a variety of habits, feeding on decaying vege¬ 
tation, decaying animal matter, small insects and probably other small 
Fig. 167.— Head of larva 
Fig. 166 .—Staphyli of staph ylinus chlorop- 
NUS CHLOROPTERUS. TERUS. 
larva. {After Perris). 
(After Perris). 
forms of life. A few frequent plants for the purpose of obtaining plant 
sap or pollen. Some live upon fungi and none are known to be feeders 
on living plant tissues or directly injurious. They are, on the whole, 
scavengers, with a tendency to being predatory. Exceptional species 
have been found in ant’s nests, and there are probably a considerable 
number of these Myrmecophilous forms in India. The larger forms can 
exsert two vesicles from the hind end, which set free a noisome fluid. 
The family is a very large one, not much studied. Atkinson lists 
286 Indian species and over 60 have been since described. The papers 
of Motschulsky and Kraatz prior to the Munich Catalogue, and those 
of Fauvel and Eppelsheim more recently, contain the descriptions of 
most of our species. Wassman has described the Myrmecophilous 
forms. We figure the large Staphylinus semipurpureus, a giant among 
the species of this family found in the moister parts of India. 
The only common genus likely to attract attention in the plains is 
Pcederus which includes several small species coloured in dull red and 
blue, which are common on plants and run actively about on crops. 
They have been seen to feed on pollen but have not been found to be 
injurious and at times they are certainly predaceous on small 
