380 IN SECT A. 



last joint of the maxillary palpi is as long as the two preceding 

 ones taken together. 



Argyrtes, Freeh. Mycetophagus, Fab. 



The body tolerably thick, convex, and arcuated superiorly, not 

 scutiform; thorax somewhat wider than long, and a little narrower 

 before; exterior margin of the elytra inclined and not canaliculated; 

 last joint of the maxillary palpi thicker and ovoid(l). 



Certain Clavicornes, which seem to approach Argyrtes in 

 their habits and other characters, but whose mandibles are 

 cleft or bidentated at the extremity, will compose our fifth 

 tribe, that of the Scaphidites. Their tarsi consist of five 

 very distinct and entire joints. The body is oval, narrow- 

 ed at both ends, arcuated or convex above, and thick in 

 the middle ; the head low, and received posteriorly into a 

 trapezoidal thorax, widest behind, the margin of which is but 

 slightly or not at all recurved. The antennas are usually at 

 least as long as the head and thorax, and terminated in a quad- 

 riarticulated and elongated club. The last joint of the palpi 

 is conical. The legs are elongated and slender. With the 

 exception of some species the Cholevae the tarsi are nearly 

 similar in both sexes. 



This tribe consists of the genus 



Scaphidium. 



Scaphidium, Oliv. Fab. Silpha, L,in. 



In the true Scaphidia, the five last joints of the antennae are almost 

 globular, and compose the club. The maxillary palpi project but 

 little, and gradually taper to a point, the penultimate joint not being 

 thicker than the last at their junction. The body is navicelli- 

 form; the margin of the thorax slightly recurved, and the elytra 

 truncated. They inhabit mushrooms. But few species are known; 

 one from Cayenne and the rest from the north of Europe(2). 



(1) Argyrtes castaneus, Gyllen., Insect., Suec. I, iii, p. 682; Mycetophagus cas- 

 taneus, Fab.; M. spinipes, Panz , Faun. Insect. Germ., XXIV, 20. I suspect the 

 A. subniger, Dej., is merely the female. 



(2) Oliv., Col, II, 20. [We have atleastone species, the S. 4-guttatum, Knoch, 

 Melsh. Catal., if not another, the S. 4-pustu latum*, Id. lb. See Say, Journ. of the 

 Acad, of Nat. Sc. of Philad. Ill, 199. Am. Ed.) 



