304 
COLEOPTERA. 
yellow and brown, alone or together. The tarsi at once separate them 
from the family they are most readily confused with in the field, the 
Chrysomelidce, these having apparently four- 
jointed tarsi. They are most closely allied 
to the Endomychidce but differ in the anten¬ 
nae, which in the latter are clubbed. These 
beetles are rarely more than one-quarter of 
an inch long ; the head is small and nearly 
hidden by the pro thorax (see Hippodamia) 
which fits smoothly into the rounded elytra. 
The antennae are not distinctly clubbed, moderately long. The 
short biting mouth parts are not conspicuous. The legs are short, hidden 
under the body and formed for running. Males and females are not 
distinguishable on superficial characters and are of the same size, as a 
rule, the male sometimes smaller. 
The life-history is well known and several Indian species have been 
reared. Eggs are laid in clusters, openly on the plants, and are cigar¬ 
shaped yellow bodies laid 
on end. (Plate XVII.) 
The larvge are active, 
widest in the middle and 
tapering to either end ; the 
head is small, the thoracic 
segments broad. Each 
segment has spines or 
tubercles bearing hairs. 
The abdomen tapers and 
there is an anal foot which 
assists locomotion. Most are black or slate coloured, some a vivid 
red and a number have waxy processes similar to those of the mealy 
bugs on which they feed and which render it difficult to distinguish 
them from their prey. When full grown, they pupate openly on a 
plant, the larva firmly fixing itself by its anal foot and the pupa 
remaining often partly enveloped by the larval skin which bursts along 
the dorsal surface. The larval, as the pupal, life is short, the whole life 
history occupying but a short time, often not more than three weeks. 
Fig. 183.—A. Coccinellid 
B. Chrysomelid tarsus. 
