55 



are sunk in the ground so as to be even with the surface, and 

 then nearly filled with water. Myriads of insects, injurious to 

 plants, are caught so, but unfortunately one of the insect de- 

 stroyers is the chief sufferer ; I mean Carabus auratus, which 

 the gardeners think very injurious to the roots of vegetables. 



Can you tell me what to make of my 807, the tarsi of which 

 are so anomalous, being 3, 4, 4? And yet I think the insect 

 should be regarded as heteromerous. (It is indeed heterom- 

 erous according to etymology, but not as we understand it 

 for coleopterous insects — .5, 5, 4.) I have three more species 

 which are congeneric, but the anomaly seems to be sexual, one 

 of the sexes being tetramerous. [807 Hentz mss. Catal.= 

 Mycetophagus pimctatus.'] 



I have sketched here an insect which I have marked Rhip- 

 icera. I never found but one. *It is undoubtedly rare here. 

 Do you know it ? Its color is a lit- 

 tle lighter than that of Platyeerus 

 securidens. The pulvilli are pale 

 yellow. The antennae are supported 

 on a peduncle. The thorax has a 

 double impression each side in front, 

 which is separated from the other by 

 an elevated line ; this line presently 

 disappears, and in its stead an im- 

 pressed line, which is obsolete at 

 base, is seen on the disk. The elytra are very much punc- 

 tm-ed, interstitial spaces forming at least three somewhat dis- 

 tinct lines ; the other spaces are irregular, or not continued. 

 The insect is a female. The male has probably the antenna; 

 en panache. 



You remarked on 814 that the palpi, in a recent or living 

 specimen, are forked ; have you made the observation yourself? 

 Previous to your communication, I had marked it Modes, and, 

 according to Latreille's description, supposed that the labial palpi 

 might be forked; but after several observations I am still 



Fig. 9. 



