518 



LNSECTA. 



The following have the three basal joints of the tarsi, at least in the males, short, broad, and bilobed, the fourth 

 being very small and scarcely apparent, with the maxillary palpi filiform. 



Ips, Fab., having the body oval-oblong, depressed, with the posterior extremity of the body exposed, and with 

 one of the mandibles (the left) truncated and tridentate at the tip, and the other broadly notched. [The species are 

 mostly small, of a black colour, with red spots on the elytra.] 



Nitidula, Fab. (Strongylus, Herbst.), have both the mandibles narrowed at the tip and terminated in a bifid point. 

 Some are flattened, oblong, or ovoid, others orbicular and gibbose, or proportionately more convex than the pre- 

 ceding. N. cenea, Fabr., is found very abundantly in flowers : it is very small, of a shining bronzed green colour, 

 with the antenna black, and the feet brownish black or fulvous. [N. grisea is one of the commonest British 

 species, larger than the preceding, and generally found under the bark of willow-trees, where 



I its larva also resides.] 



jU- -* \ Cerctts, Latr. (Catheretes, Herbst.), differs from the two preceding in having the second and 



-HiOhIK tnirtI J oints of tne antennae nearly of equal size, the club elongated and pear-shaped, (and not 

 suddenly formed and orbicular or oval) ; the body is depressed, and the elytra are truncate. 

 [Very small species, found in flowers.] 

 Byturus, Latr., differs from all the preceding by having the tibias long, narrow, and nearly 

 Fig. 64.— Nit. grisea- linear, the elytra covering the body, and not truncated at the tip, the body oval, and the club 

 of the antennae oblong. [B. tomentusus, a small species of very common occurrence, the larva of which feeds in 

 the interior of ripe raspberries.] 



The sixth tribe, Engidites, agrees with the last in having the mandibles notched at the tip, but differs 



in these organs scarcely extending beyond the sides of the labrurn ; the body is oval or elliptic, with 



the anterior extremity of the head slightly advanced into an obtuse point. The tarsi have five distinct 



joints (some male Cryptophagi excepted, which are heteromerous), entire, and merely slightly villose 



beneath ; the penultimate joint is but a little shorter than the preceding, the antennae terminate in a per- 



foliated mass of 3 joints, the elytra entirely cover the abdomen, the palpi are slightly thickened at the 



tips. Some of the species, of very small size, live in the interior of houses. These Clavicornes may be 



united into a single genus, 



Dacne. 



Dacne, Latr. (Engis, Fabr), has the antennae terminated suddenly in a large orbicular, or ovoid, and compressed 

 close mass. 



Cryptophagut, Herbst., has the antennae moniliform, with the second joint as large or largerthan the preceding, 

 and terminated less suddenly by a narrower club with more distinct joints. [Minute domestic insects.] 



Antlierophagus, Knoch, has the antennae proportionably thicker, composed of transverse joints, and terminated 

 gradually by a club, the second and the eighth joints being nearly equal-sized. 



Triphyllus, Meg., Dej., differs only from Cryptophagus in the number of the joints of the tarsi. 



We now pass to some tribes having the prosternum often dilated in front like a cravat, and which 

 differ from the preceding in having the feet more or less contractile, the tibiae being folded against the 

 thighs, even though the tarsi may be free. The mandibles are short, thick, and toothed, the body is 

 ovoid, thick, and clothed with scales, or hairs, easily abraded, which give it a diversified colour. The 

 larva; are hairy, and feed for the most part on the skins or carcases of animals, many of them being 

 very injurious in collections of insects. Such of them as have not the feet perfectly contractile, the 

 tarsi remaining free, with the tibiae long and narrow, form our seventh tribe, Dermestini, and the genus 



Dermestes, Linn. 



Aspidiphorus, Zeigl., has only ten distinct joints in the antennae, the palpi very short, and the body orbicular. 

 Nitidula orbiculata, Gyll., [a minute British species]. 



The following have eleven distinct joints in the antenna?, and the palpi are filiform, or thickened at the tips. 

 Some of these have the antennae not received in particular cavities on the under-side of the thorax. 



Dermestes proper, has the antennae smaller in both sexes ; the length of the terminal joint scarcely exceeding 

 that of the preceding. Some of these insects commit great ravages in fur-warehouses, cabinets of natural history, 

 &c, D. lardarius gnawing to pieces the insects in collections into which it may happen to make its way ; others 

 feed upon carcases. 



Dermestes lardarius, Linn., is black, with the base of the elytra gray spotted with black ; its 

 larva is long, gradually narrowed from the front to the extremity of the body, dark brown 

 above, white beneath, with long hairs, and two horny hooks on the last segment of the body. 



Megatoma, Herbst., has the club of the antennae greatly elongated in the males, the last 

 joint of a lanceolate form. D. pe/lio, Linn., is 2£ lines long, black, with three white spots on 

 the thorax, and one on each elytra. Its larva is very long, red brown, shining, with red hairs, 

 those of the extremity of the body forming a tail. 



Limnichus, Zeigl., differs from the last two subgenera in having the antennae gradually 

 clubbed ; they are granular, and are lodged under the anterior angles of the thorax ; the labial 

 palpi are very small. Byrrhus sericeus, Dufts. 



Fig. 65.~DeTmestes 

 lardarius 



