174 CET0N1IX.E. 



short, blunt. Front tibia armed with three acute teeth, the two 

 terminal ones very long. Tarsi rather long and slender. 



J . The abdomen is arched and slightly grooved. 



One species only is known in our region. 



151. Epicometis squalida. 



8carabfeus pqualidus, L., Syst. :S(it. V2i\\ ed. 1767, i, 2, p. 556. 

 Cetonia ciinita, Charp., Hoi: Ent. 1825, p. 213. 

 Epicometis crinita, Bunn., Handb. Ent. iii, 1842, p. 436 ; Schaum, 

 Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1849, p. 267. 



Shining black, thickly clothed with yellow hairs, except upon 

 the middle of the metasternum and abdomen, the costa; upon the 



pronotum and elytra, and the scu- 

 tellum. The elytra are decorated 

 with inconspicuous transverse yellow 

 markings. 



The head and clypeiis are finely 

 granulated and the pronotum rugosely 

 punctured, with a narrow smooth 

 carina extending froui the front to 

 the hind margin. The protTiorax is 

 rather narrow, scarcely broader than 

 it is long, obtusely angulated at the 

 lateral margin, with the hind angles 

 feebly indicated and the base broadly 

 and gently excised before the scu- 

 Fig. ■iO.—Epiamciis squalida. tellum. The scutellum is almost 



smooth, and the elijtra are rugosely 

 punctured and striated, each having a smooth sutural costa and a 

 lateral one Avhich is divided at the shoulder by a wedge-shaped 

 depression. The pugidium is finely rugose and the middle of the 

 metustermim and abdomen very smooth and shining. 



cj . The abdomen is excavated in the middle and entirely 

 smooth. 



2 . The ventral surface is convex and the last two segments 

 are punctured and hairy. 



Lemjth 9-5-13 mm.; breadth 0-8 mm. 

 BALCcnisTAN : Quetta ; AV. Asia ; Europe ; N. Africa. 

 This well-known and widely-distributed insect is very abundant 

 in the Mediterranean region, where it inflicts serious injury upon 

 various crops. It is reported to injure peach-blossoms by 

 destroying the stamens, and in Greece, Corsica, Algeria, and other 

 vine-growing countries, damages the buds of the growing vines 

 (^see Mayet, Ann. Soc. Ent. Prance, 1894, p. 5). These buds, 

 which contain a quantity of a sweet gummy substance, are perhaps 

 only attacked in the absence of ripe fruit or flowers. The larvae 

 are said to breed in the manure spread at the roots of the crops. 



