320 
COLEOPTEBA. 
The colours are often sombre, though many are yellow and a few a vivid 
red. They vary in length up to nearly half an inch. The body is flat- 
Fig. 202.— Luminous malacoder- 
MII) LARVAE OR FEMALES, X 1 . 
tened, the integument soft, the body without that hardness and rigidity 
which is a feature of most beetles. The head is generally concealed 
under the prothorax ; the antennse are often pectinate, sometimes mo- 
niliform, serrate or vaguely clubbed. The large flat pronotum fits 
loosely to the elytra, the latter lying over the abdomen but not accu¬ 
rately adapted to it. The mouth-parts are usually feebly developed. 
Sexual differences are marked in a number of characters (most easily 
in the larger eyes which are often contiguous in the males) and some 
