64 



lowing applies especially to this form ; however, the notes 

 will serve as a guide for the examination of any member of 

 the genus. 



The meso- and metathoracic segments are closely joined 

 to each other and to the abdomen. The prothorax is freely 

 movable and is constricted at its articulation with the meso- 

 thorax, so that it appears to form all of the second or tho- 

 racic region of the body. The insertion of the hinder two 

 pairs of legs, however, shows that part of what at first 

 glance appears to belong entirely to the abdominal region of 

 the body really belongs to the thorax. The body-wall is 

 very strongly chitinized, the body being enclosed in a veri- 

 table coat of armor. The head projects horizontally from 

 the body instead of hanging vertically across the front, as 

 with the locust, and the flattening of the body is evident in 

 all regions, head, thorax, and abdomen. 



PARTS OF THE HEAD. 

 THE FIXED PARTS OF THE HEAD. 



The fixed * parts of the head are fused so as to form a 

 strong and rigid box, which is elongated and flattened. 



Hpicranium. — The epicraiiium bears on its cephalic por- 

 tion two impressed lines which run cephalad until they meet 

 the transversal clypeal suture, the suture separating the cly- 

 peus from theepicranium.f Laterad of each of the impressed 

 lines on the epicranium there is, forming the dorso-lateral 

 margin of the head, a sharp ridge called the frontal ridge, 



which runs cephalad from the dorsal margin of the eye. 



— — — _ — _ , ^ 



* The "head-capsule" of this beetle is very strongly chitinized and deep 

 black in color. To soften and partly bleach the head, so that the fi.xed parts 

 may be readily determined, the student must boil the head for some time in 

 caustic potash (KOH). 



t The epicranium of the beetle, like that of the locust, is a compound sclerite, 

 being composed of the fused true epicranium and front. 



