AS Mr. Leacu’s Essay on the Genus Meloe. 
DESCR. Carvr nigrum, obseuré violescens, punctis plurimis 
impressis. Antenne purpureo-violescentes, articulis tribus 
intermediis valdé incrassatis, apice obscure pice. 
Tuonax subquadratus, punctatus, postice vix emarginatus mar- 
ginatusque. | 
ErvrRnaA elongata, subrugosa, nigra, nitida. 
ABDOMEN breve, glabrum, oculo armato sub-rugosum. 
PEDES purpureo-violescentes, 
B Foem. articulo primo tarsi posterioris basi luteo. 
M. tectus is very nearly allied to M. proscarabeus, but may 
be readily distinguished from it by its more smooth elytra and 
thickened antennz. The specimens from which the figures are 
taken, were caught in a wood near Hampstead, in copulation, 
about the latter end of June. Mr. Donovan has given a figure of 
M. violaceus for this species in his British Insects, plate 240. 
Mr. Marsham in his work appears to doubt whether this insect be 
not a variety of M. proscarabeus ; but I suspect he had not seen 
the insect at the time he wrote his Entomologia Britannica, or he 
would have introduced it as a well ed species. 
nn = QURE 
It may not be uninteresting to collectors to observe, that all 
the species of this genus, except M. maialis, shrink so much 
after death, that it is necessary to remove the contents of the 
abdomen, and to fill it to the natural size with cotton; which 
may easily be done, when the insect is in a recent state, by 
making an incision. on the under side. 
REFE- 
