histerim:. 
293 
dark blue, a few variegated with brown or yellow. The colouring 
is that common to so many beetles which live in concealment and on the 
soil. The body is thickset and short, sometimes very markedly flat¬ 
tened; the integument is peculiarly hard and the whole structure com¬ 
pact and neat. The upper surface is commonly bare and shining, the 
elytra smooth or with indented lines between which are punctures, whose 
form is sufficiently constant to serve in species discrimination. The 
head is small and retracted, the antennae short, hidden in repose, the 
biting mouth-parts well developed, the mandibles often long and con¬ 
spicuous. The prothorax is large, receiving the retracted head and 
broadly united to the abdomen. The elytra are truncate behind and 
do not cover the pygidium. The legs are short, folding under the body 
in repose, the tibiae broadened and fitted for digging. 
No species appear to have been reared in India, and little is known 
of the details of the metamorphosis of the family at all. So far as known 
the larvae are active and predaceous. They have anal cerci, the labrum 
and ocelli are wanting and they live wholly in concealment. The 
adults are found under bark or stones, among roots, in dung, in car¬ 
casses, in dead insects ; some (Teretrius, Teretriosoma ), are known to 
be predaceous in the bores of Bostrichid beetles, others on insects 
found in the spots they frequent. A species of Hister is stated to 
feed on Agrotis larvae in Corsica (Ann. Soc. Ent., France, 1864, p. 304). 
How far they are scavengers themselves and how far predaceous upon 
insects is uncertain ; none are in any degree injurious and it may be 
found that as a whole they are beneficial. They are rarely found 
in the open by day and are principally nocturnal in habit. 
Marseul’s Catalogue (Ann. Soc. Ent., France, 1862), enumerated 
1010 species of which 51 were Indian. Many additions have been made 
since that time and Lewis has published descriptions of many new spe¬ 
cies in the “Annals of Natural History.” I 11 his recent Catalogue, 
Lewis enumerates 95 as occurring in India and Assam, apart from 
Ceylon and Burmah. These are Niponius (3), Hololepta (5), Trype- 
ticus (1), Teretriosoma (4), Teretrius (1), Plcesius (1), Apobletes (2), 
Platylister (3), Platysoma (6), Eblisia (1), Pachylister (5), Hister (23), 
Epierus (1), Pachylomalus (1), Cypturus (4), Phelister (1), Anag ymma 
