. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. POLYMORPHA STAPHYLIXIDAE 225 a limit 9000 species are known, some of which are minute, while scarcely any attain a size of more than an inch in length, our cm union British black cock-tail, or "devil's coach-horse beetle," (_)i'!/l>nx oh us, being amongst the largest. Though the elytra are short, the wings in many forms are as large as those of the majority of beetles; indeed many Staphylinidae are more apt at taking flight than is usual with Coleoptera; the wings when not in use are packed away under the short elytra, being transversely f
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. POLYMORPHA STAPHYLIXIDAE 225 a limit 9000 species are known, some of which are minute, while scarcely any attain a size of more than an inch in length, our cm union British black cock-tail, or "devil's coach-horse beetle," (_)i'!/l>nx oh us, being amongst the largest. Though the elytra are short, the wings in many forms are as large as those of the majority of beetles; indeed many Staphylinidae are more apt at taking flight than is usual with Coleoptera; the wings when not in use are packed away under the short elytra, being transversely folded, and otherwise crumpled, in a com- plicated but orderly manner. It is thought that the power of curling up the abdomen is connected with the packing away of the wings after flight; but this is not the case: for though the Insect sometimes experiences a difficulty in fold- ing the wings under the elytra after they have been expanded, yet it overcomes this difficulty by slight movements of the base of the abdomen, rather than by touching the wings with the tip. What the value of this exceptional condition of short elytra and corneous dorsal abdominal segments to the , FIG. 105.—Staphylinidae. A, Larva of Pln- Insect may be IS at present lonthusnitidus. Britain. (After Schiddte.) «I uite mysterious. The habits B- °^Mf o!?ns> Brit/lil1 > ,C' ^ °f aljd°- 1 . men, of 0. olens \vith stink-vessels. of the members of the family are very varied; many run with great activity; the food is very often small Insects, living or dead; a great many are found in fungi of various kinds, and perhaps eat them. It is in this family that we meet with some of the most remarkable cases of symbiosis, lives of two kinds of creatures mutually accommodated with good will. The relations between the Staphylinidae of the genera Atemeles and Lomechusa, and certain ants, in the habitations of which they dwell, are very interesting. The beetles are never found out of the ants' nests, or at
Size: 1418px × 1762px
Photo credit: © Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorha, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
