. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. —Derodontus inacu- North America. longed; middle coxae small; abdomen with Jive visible segments, all mobile, the first not elongated. One of the smallest and least known of the families of Coleoptera; it consists of four or five species of small Insects of the genera Derodontus and Peltasticta, found in North America, Europe, and Japan. The distinction of the family from Cleridae is hy no means cer- tain ; our European Laricobvus apparently possessing characters but little different. Xothing is known as to the life-histories. Fam. 50. Cioidae.—Small o
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. —Derodontus inacu- North America. longed; middle coxae small; abdomen with Jive visible segments, all mobile, the first not elongated. One of the smallest and least known of the families of Coleoptera; it consists of four or five species of small Insects of the genera Derodontus and Peltasticta, found in North America, Europe, and Japan. The distinction of the family from Cleridae is hy no means cer- tain ; our European Laricobvus apparently possessing characters but little different. Xothing is known as to the life-histories. Fam. 50. Cioidae.—Small or mimde beetles; antennae short, terminal joints thicker; tarsi short, four-jointed ; anterior and middle coxae small, oval, decjily em- bedded ; abdomen ivith five ventral seg- ments, all mobile. The position of these obscure little Insects seems to be near Colydiidae and Crypto- phagidae, though they are usually placed near Bostrichidae. So far as known, they all live in fungi, or in wood penetrated by fungoid growths. The cylindrical larvae live also in similar matter; they usually have the body terminated behind by one or two hooks curved upwards; that of Cis melliei (Fig. 124) has, instead of these hooks, a curious chitinous tube. About 300 species of the family are now known; a score, or so, occurring in Britain. The Hawaiian Islands have a remarkably rich and varied fauna of Cioidae. Fam. 51. Sphindidae.—This family of half a dozen species of rare and small Insects, differs from Cioidae by the tarsi being five-jointed at any rate on the front and middle feet, opinions differing as to whether the number of joints of the hind tarsi is four or five. These Insects live in fungi growing in wood, Reticularia hortensis, that are at first pulpy and. Fig. 124.—Cis melliei. Jlartin- ique. A, Perfect Insect; B, pupa ; C, larva ; D, terminal portion of body of larva. (After Coquerel.). Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have be
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