492 INSECTA. 



are not abruptly subulate near their posterior extremity, and where 

 they completely cover their wings. In 



Tetraonyx, Lat. Jlpalus, Fab. Lytta, Kliig, 



The maxillae, as in Cantharis and Zonitis, are not prolonged and 

 terminated by a silky thread, and curved interiorly. The penultimate 

 joint of the tarsi is emarginated or almost bilobate, and the thorax 

 forms a transverse square. These Insects are closely related to the 

 Cantharides, and are peculiar to the western continent(l). 



Cantharis, Geoff. Oliv. Meloe, Lin. Lytta, Fab. 



All the joints of the tarsi entire, and the thorax almost ovoid, 

 slightly elongated, narrowed anteriorly and truncated posteriorly, 

 by which this subgenus is distinguished from the preceding one. 

 The second joint of the antennae is much shorter than the following 

 one, and the last of the maxillary palpi is evidently larger than those 

 that precede it. The head is a little wider than the thorax. These 

 characters distinguish it from Zonitis. The antennae of the males 

 are sometimes irregular and even semipectinated. 



C. vesicatorius; Meloe vesicatorius, L. ; Oliv., Col. Ill, 46, I, 

 1, a, b, c. (The Spanish Fly.) From six to ten lines in length, 

 of a glossy golden-green, with simple, regular, black antennae. 

 This Insect, well known from its medical uses, has furnished 

 M. Victor Audouin, with the subject of an excellent Memoir 

 published in the Ann. des Sc. Nat., IX, p. 31, pi. xlii andxliii; 

 he there minutely describes its anatomy, the external sexual dif- 

 ferences which had hitherto remained unnoticed, its mode of 

 copulation, Sec. Excellent figures, drawn with the greatest care 

 by Guerin, give additional value to these interesting facts. 



This Insect appears in France, near the time of the summer 

 solstice, and is more particularly found about the Ash and Lilac, 

 on the leaves of which it feeds; it diffuses a highly penetrating 

 odour. The larva lives in the ground and gnaws the roots of 

 plants. In the United States of America, the species called by 

 Fabricius the vittata, and which abounds on the potato plants, 

 is applied to the same uses as the one of which we are speak- 

 ing(2). 



(1) Lat., Zool., and Anat., of Messrs Humboldt and Bonpland, pi. xvi, 7; 

 Jlpalus quadrimaculatus, Fab.; Lytta bimaculata, Kliig, Spec Entom. Brasd., 

 XLI, 10; Lytta sex-guttata, Kliig; Lytta crassa, ejusd., XLI, 12. 



(2) See Fabricius, Olivier, Schcenherr; the Entomog. Imp. Russ. of Fischer; 

 the Spec. Entom. Bras, of Kliig, and the Insect. Spec. Nov., German 



