302 
COLEOPTERA. 
Cryptophagidce. 
Antennce with a three-jointed club. Tarsi five-jointed , rarely hete 
romerous in males. Five abdominal visible ventral 
segments , first longest. 
Small oblong beetles, pubescent above, found in mushrooms and 
decaying plants. Ten Indian species are described by Motschulsky 
Reitter and Grouvelle. 
HelqtidcE. 
Five visible ventral segments. Basal tarsal joint reduced. 
This is a small family of beetles resembling the Erotylidce in ap¬ 
pearance and found feeding on the flowing sap of trees. Helota is 
represented by twenty species from the hills, mainly described by Rit- 
sema (Notes, Leyden Mus., 1893-1901). Helota mellyi, Westw., is des¬ 
cribed and figured from Simla (Cab. Or. Entom., PI. XLI, Fig. 8). H. 
servillei, Ho. (Coleopterists 5 Manual, 3, p. 187) from Poona and H. 
Guerinii , Ho. (loc. cit., p. 188), are the previously described Indian 
species. 
Thorictid^e. 
Antennce clubbed ; prothorax large , elytra short. Tarsi five-jointed. 
Head sunk in prothorax. 
A small family of peculiar beetles, of which very little is known, 
and which are separated on the above structural characters. Thorictus 
heimi, Wassm. (Fig. 153), is myrmecophilous and T. indicus, Grouv. 
was found at Belgaum. 
Erotylidce. 
Antennce with a three or four-jointed club. Tarsi with five joints , 
the fourth joint reduced in some forms , the basal three 
often broad and pubescent. 
A moderately large family of small beetles, found chiefly in mush¬ 
rooms and plant stems, where also their larvae live. The fourth tarsal 
joint is so small as to be scarcely visible and they appear to have four- 
jointed tarsi. The individuals of the family will scarcely be distin¬ 
guished by the above characters and the accurate diagnosis of the family 
