shown at Fig. g. The genus is known by the shape of the is of the thorax, which are more or less toothed. The margins species is oblong, and its colour rust-red, the sm-face of the body being sparingly I present covered with very fine down. The especially on the disc. In this thorax is thickly punctured, toothing of the thorax is not so conspicuous Beetle the marginal

in most of the species, and is rather undulated than toothed. as It is to be found in and about fungi. There ai-e about seventeen species of this genus.

The next family is called Mycetophagi, a word having much the same signification as that of the last family, the Greek word Myces signifying a fungus, especially the kind of fungus that grows on tree-trunks. The insects of this family are rather convex-bodied and oval, and covered with a delicate down. The tarsi have four joints, except in the males, which have the tarsi of the first pair of legs only three-jointed.

Our example of this family is taken from the typical genus, and is known by the name of Mycetcyphagus quadnpustulatus, a figure of which is given on Woodcut XI. Fig. 5. The genus is distinguished by the shape of the thorax, which is as wide at its base as the base of the elytra, the margins of the thorax and elytra forming one continuous line without any division. The club of the antenn® is rather long and composed of five joints, the last joint being egg-shaped, and the four others short and disc-like. The antenna is shown at Fig. h on the same woodcut. Six species are known in England.

This really seems quite a large insect when we compare it with some of those which have lately been described, as it sometimes reaches a length of a quarter of an inch. The head of this Beetle is reddish, and the antennae are black in the middle and red at the tip. The thorax is black, narrow in front and broad behind, with rather sharp posterior angles, and a rounded pit on each side towards the base. The elytra are black, and on each of them are two reddish-yellow spots, one at the base, and a smaller one over the apex. Some specimens have the smaller spot so pale as to be scarcely visible, while in others the two spots are united by a streak of pale yellow. This is a very pretty little Beetle, and easily to be found when the searcher knows where to look for it. The interior of fungi, rotten wood, and similar localities are the dwellings of this Beetle, which may be found in perfection about the middle of summer. As a rule, all these fungi-loving Beetles are in good preservation when captui-ed, as the nature of their habitations shields them from injmy.

The next family, the Dermestidse, is a very interesting one to the entomologist, although he can but hold its members in bitterest hatred. The word Dermestes is of Greek origin, and sigmfies ‘ skin-eater.’ The name is but too appropriate, as all

possessors of zoological collections know to tkeir cost. It is the Dermestes which forces taxidermists to use the dangerous arsenical soap in their preparations, and it has been the means of depriving many a hard-working man of his best teeth, the arsenic loosening them so that they fall out almost at a touch. By way of a set-off, it is the Dermestes which drove the late Mr. Waterton to the invention of his wonderful mode of taxidermy, in which no arsenical soap is used, hut by which the skin is rendered so hard and elastic, that it is able to retain the form of the animal without having a wire, a piece of wood, or even a pinch of cotton wool inside it. Full many a valuable museum has been utterly ruined by these destructive Beetles, which, even when the skin is poisoned with arsenical soap, will attack the hair or the feathers, and strip the creatm-e as bare as if it had been shaved. Moses Harris, the old entomologist, mentions that he found these Beetles alive in the body of a living Eyed-hawk Moth.

This family is distinguished by their short, straight, and doubled antennae, their small and retractile head, the fivejointed tarsi, and the length of the elytra, which cover the abdomen. In the typical genus, the antennae are shorter than the thorax, and the club is egg-shaped, as seen at Fig. i on Woodcut XI. The palpi are thread-like and shorter than the maxillae, and the first joint of the tarsus is shorter than the second. For illustration of this genus I have selected the well-known Bacon Beetle {Dermestes lardarius), which is shown on Woodcut XI. Fig. 6.

This is really a pretty, though not gaily coloured. Beetle, its body being black, and its elytra having a very broad greyish band across the base, on which are three black or pitchy spots. On examination with a lens, the band is seen to be composed of a short but thick grey doAvn, the black spots being simply places on which the down does not grow, so that the black of the elytra is rendered visible. may be found plentifully in the ‘ keepers’ trees ’

This Beetle have already been mentioned ; and even after the animals which so dried by exposure that their skins are as hard as have been horn, the Dermestes will attack them, its sharp teeth enabbng it to overcome the hardened skin. The chief havoc caused by tliis Beetle is due to the larvae, one of which may be seen

figiu-ed on Woodcut XI. Fig. /. Its colour is whitish-brown

above and white below, and it is profusely covered with long

hairs. The cast skins of these larvae may be seen abundantly

when the Beetle has taken possession of any place, and by them

the museum owner is often warned of the danger which has . come on his collection. The reader will see that, like many I other destructive insects, it is most valuable in its right place, I and does good service by removing from sight objects which i aie not only unpleasant to the eye and nostril but injurious to f the health. In these places it should be protected and en- I couraged ; but when it makes its way into a house, extermina- ^ tion is the only course to be used.

We now come to theByrrhid®, or Pill Beetles, so called from their rounded shape, and the manner in which they can hide their limbs and antennae when alarmed. There is no difficulty in distingmshing Beetles belonging to this family. The antennae are gradually thickened towards the extremity, and the head is very small and deeply sunk in the thorax, with which it can be completely retracted in most of the species.

The machinery by which the legs are packed up is extraordmary, and this alone would serve to indicate the family. On the tibi® there is a groove in which the tarsi are received when doubled the tibiae fold closely to the femora, and the whole le^ thus reduced into a very small compass, is received into a groove i^der the body. In fact, the legs are packed up very

ch like the joints of a portable easel. The head befng at T the antenn/lie pressed nresse7"l closely against its sides, so that when the Beetle has

us packed away all its limbs, it does not bear the least re semblance to an insect. This mode of concealment or ^ IZTof’the bt the dust of th 7 "Stains the dust of the roads on which it so often ^ travels, and gives to ^ round dusty stone. attitude when alarmed And so thaf iftte l"n than give

The typical genus has the antennse rather than the thota., the basal joint being

small and globular, and the third long and slender. The club is formed by a series of joints regularly increasing in last joint being egg-shaped. One of these antennae is size, the drawn on Woodcut XII. Fig. a. The thorax is waved behind, and the body is very convex.

The species which has been chosen for illustration is the Banded Pill Beetle {Byrrhus fasciatus), which is drawn on

Byrrhus fasciatus. 2. Elmis luneus. 3. Heterocems flcxuosus. 4.

male. a. Byrrhus, antenna. 6. Elmis. antenna. c. Het^rus, antenna. d.Hjdrous,

fore leg of female. e. Hydrous, antenna of male. /. Hydriius, larva.

XII. Fig. 1. The coloiu' of this Beetle is black, the

Woodcut a decided golden tinge. Upon the elytra are

thorax having short black stripes, and in the middle is a

a number of very band, shaped as is seen in the figure. This is

reddish-yellow species, though it is not so often found as

a tolerably plentiful Pill Beetle {Byn'hus fiMa), which is wthout

the Common

the yellow band across the elytra. Five species of this genus

inhabit England.

The next family is the Heteroceridse, which have the antennae short, with a long flattened club of seven joints, as may be seen by referring to Woodcut XII. Fig. c. The legs are evidently adapted to burrowing in the earth. The body is flat, broad, and covered with a thick silken down. They are all frequenters of the water, and live in burrows which they excavate in the damp soil. There is only one genus in this family, containing seven species, of which our example is Heterocerus flexuosus, which is drawn on Woodcut XII. Fig. 2. This insect is yellowish or dun-coloured, very finely punctm-ed, and covered with down. Along the elytra is a wavy or flexuous stripe composed of black spots irregularly disposed, a mark from which the Beetle derives its specific name of flexuosus. Towards the shoulders there is a black spot, and another in the nuddle towards the suture, the or well-defined latter not being so dark as the former. f water-loving Beetle, and has been taken on the banks of the Thames, near Gravesend. Mr. Stephens remarks, that to obtain any of the Beetles of this family is a very easy process All that is required is, to go to the bank of some river

tidal rivers are the most frequented— and then to stamp and trample on the muddy bank. The little Beetles are alarmed the Itter Wv ’ captui-ed. The insect-hunter must,

. q^ck in seizing them, as they are back their tfeTt^i tiny bodies b cannot be seen. themselves in crevices where

Likk the preceding Beetles, the Parnid® are water-lovers hove It. The head is sunk into the prosternum, and the anterior segments of the abdomen are fixed together and im ™vahle They are divided into two suh-fanfmes! ^ C ina and Elmina, which may easily be distinguished bv examining the coxae of the front pair of legs. In the they are Parnina cylindrical, and in the Elmina Lbull One ex -pie of this fanrily is taken fronr the lat^: and

is called Elmis ceneus. One of these Beetles is shown on Woodcut XII. Fig. 2, and the antenna is drawn at Fig. b of the same illustration.

All the species belonging to this genus, of which five British examples are known, are very curious insects. They are plentiful and yet are seldom found, and, indeed, are hardly ever found except by those who know where to look for them. In the first place, they are small, and would escape observation, and in the next they are subaquatic in their habits, not swimming about conspicuously like the Hydradephaga, but clinging to the under side of submerged stones in swiftly-running streams. Most aquatic Beetles prefer still water, but the stream can never be too swift for the Elmis Beetles, which will even select a waterfall as their place of residence.

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