398 INSECTA. 



Our second tribe or the Sph^ridiota, consists of terres- 

 trial Palpicornes, with tarsi composed of five very distinct 

 joints, the first of which is at least as long as the second. 

 The maxillary palpi are somewhat shorter than the antennae, 

 with the third joint longer, inflated and in the form of a re- 

 versed cone. The maxillary lobes are membranous. 



The body is nearly hemispherical, the posterior extremity 

 of the presternum is prolonged into a point, and the tibiae are 

 spinous ; those that are anterior are palmated or digitated in 

 the large species. The antennae always consist of nine joints, 

 or of eight, if the last be considered as an appendage of the 

 penultimate(l). 



These Insects are small, and inhabit cow-dung and other 

 excrementitious matters ; certain species are found near the 

 shores of rivers, &c. They compose the genus 



Sphjeridium, Fab. 



From which, however, we must separate several species, a division 

 already effected by Olivier. Dr Leach only considers as such those 

 in which the anterior tarsi of the males are dilated. Such is 



S. 4-maculatum; Dermestes scarabeeoides, L. ; Oliv., Col. II, 

 15, 1 and 3, II, 11. It is of a shining black and smooth; the 

 scutellum is elongated, and the legs are very spinous; a blood- 

 red spot at the base of each elytron, and their extremity reddish. 

 In some individuals these spots diminish or disappear. 

 The species, in which the tarsi are similar in both sexes, and 

 whose antennal club is closely imbricated, compose the genus Cer- 

 cydion{2) of Leach. The Sphaeridia might be divided into several 

 other sections by characters drawn from the form of the tibiae, and 

 the disposition of their spines or dentations, a division which would 

 facilitate the study of the species, that seem to have been impro- 

 perly multiplied(3). 



(1) See Elater and several other genera of the Coleoptera. 



(2) The Sphxridia unipundatum, melanocephalum, &c; Zool., Miscelf., Ill, 

 p. 95. 



(3) For the other species, see Olivier, Schrenherr, Gyllenhal, Dejean, &.c. 



