COLEOPTERA. 381 



Choleva, Lat. Spence. Catops, Fab. Peltis, Geoff. 



Most of the joints of the antennal club turbiniform and more or 

 less perfoliaceous; maxillary palpi very salient and abruptly subu- 

 late; the body ovoid; thorax plane, without a border; the four first 

 joints of the anterior tarsi, and the first of the intermediate ones, 

 dilated in the males of some species Catops blapsoides, Germ. 



In the Cholevae properly so called, the antennae are about the 

 length of the head and thorax; their eighth joint, or the second of 

 the club, is evidently shorter than the preceding and following one, 

 and sometimes is even indistinct; the last is semi-ovoidal and point- 

 ed(l). 



In the Mylcechus, Lat. Oliv., Catops, Payk., Gyll., the antennae 

 are shorter, the eighth joint is larger than the preceding, and almost 

 equal to the following one, the last is rounded and obtuse on the 

 summit(2). 



The fifth tribe, or that of theNiTiDULARi^ approximates 

 to the fourth in the scutiform and bordered body, but the 

 mandibles are bifid or emarginated at the extremity ; the tarsi 

 seem to consist of but four joints, the first and last, in some, 

 being only visible beneath, where they merely form a slight 

 projection, and the penultimate in the remainder being very 

 small, in the form of a knot, enclosed between the lobes of the 

 preceding ones. The antennal club is always perfoliaceous, 

 consists of three or four joints, and is usually short or but 

 little elongated. 



The palpi are short and filiform, or somewhat thickest at 

 the extremity. The elytra in several are short or truncated. 

 The legs are but slightly elongated, and their tibiae frequently 

 widened at the end ; the tarsi are furnished with hairs or pel- 

 lets. The habitation of these Insects varies with the species; 

 they are found on flowers, in mushrooms, putrified meat, and 

 under the bark of trees. They form the genus 



Nitidula. 



In some, the antennal club consists of but two joints, and the ante- 



(1) Lat. Gener. Cr.ust. et Insect., II, p. 26. See the Monograph of this genus, 

 published by M. Spence in the Lin. Trans., and Paykull and Gyllenhal. 



(2) Lat. lb., p. 30, VIII, ii; Oliv., Encyclop. Method., article Myloeque. 



