ON THE MAXILUEIN COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 459 



ting the food. I have been fortunate enough to dkeove*r a 

 considerable number of insects, in which the configuration of 

 that part of the mouth is such as to corroborate tin idea ex- 

 pressed in the sentence heading these remarks' 



The first to lie mentioned seems to 1m the Cantharis mar- 

 ginata of Fabricius, though the marking of Hie elytra differs 

 in most varieties from the descriptions of that species. In 

 this insect, the maxilla', if examined after desiccation, off r 

 onlv one lobe, which is Cleft or bifid. See Fwr. 1. I>. But 

 before it is dried, if the abdomen be pressep gradually, and 

 then the thorax, there issues from the eh ft of the loMe of 

 the maxilla a soft, elastic, subconiq body: pt more than half 

 it- whole length, and extending beyond the palpi. Ano- 

 ther body of the same nature issues marly at a riijht an- 

 gle from the Base of the first, which is directed forward. 

 This projection is about half the length of the first, and 

 would seem to issue from, or possibly to constitute the 

 lower lobe. Both arc covered with short hairs. See Fig. 

 I. e. These bodies, which the insect can protrude at 

 will, can extend into the corolla- of umbelliferous and other 

 small flowers, and are used to collect nourishment The 

 next insect is the Cantharis bimaculata, F. The anomalous 

 characteristics of the preceding exist in this in a more con- 

 spicuous degree. When the abdomen and thorax, still in a 

 recent state, are pressed, ther< issues from each maxilla a suit 

 tapering body covered with fine hairs. It is capable of great 

 extension, as it may reach farther than the middle of the an- 

 tenna', being then more than twice as long as (he maxilla 



itself. SeeFig. II. b. c These two insects ar< evidently 

 congeneric and even hear greal affinit] to each other. A su- 

 perficial observer might lake one for the other. They would 

 rather belong to Mattkinm than to Telephony on account of 

 the brevity of thejelytra in relation to &»e abdomen, but I 

 have been induced bj aevend reasons to propose that the* 



should constitute a new genus, which I will thus define: — 



VOL. III. G A 



