1. CANTHARUS. 415 



q-s. Half-grown : stuffed. 



t. Half-grown : not good state. Mediterranean, Purchased of Mr. 



Frank. 

 u. Half-grown : skin. Mediterranean. From the Collection of the 



Zoological Society. 

 V. Half-grown. From the Haslar Collection. 

 w. Half-grown : bad state. From the Old Collection, 

 •r. Adult. From the Old Collection. 

 y-y. Adult : skins. From Mr. Yarrell's Collection. 

 S. HaLf-gro'wn : skin. From Gronov's Collection. 

 e. Adult: skeleton. 



Skeleton. — The maxiUary bone is oblong, straight, with a longitu- 

 dinal ridge, and provided above and behind with a semicircular flat 

 process. The intermaxillarj' is rather nan'ow, styliform, with the 

 posterior processes shorter than the descending branches. The man- 

 iibula has a narrow cleft between the dentarj' and articular bones, 

 and several very distinct pores of the muciferous channel. The vomer 

 has a rather irregularly quadrangular and slightly concave head, 

 and terminates in a long tapering tail. The marginal part of the 

 praeoperculum is very thin ; the length of the inferior Umb is two- 

 thirds of that of the posterior ; both meet at a right angle, which, 

 however, is rounded. The praeopercular ridge is rather low, with a 

 narrow muciferous channel. The operculum is irregiilarly qua- 

 drangular, with t/ie upper side shortest, and the posterior slightly 

 emarginate ; there is a very slight ridge on the inner surface of the 

 bone, descending obhquely downwards, and not terminating in a 

 point ; the-surface near the upp6r angle is roughened by pores. The 

 suboperculum is rather shorter and narrower than the interoper- 

 culum. The turbinal bones are somewhat elongate, transformed into 

 a muciferous channel, and widened posteriorly. The pra^orbital is of 

 moderate width, tapering posteriorly, with the anterior margin con- 

 vex ; the remainder of the infraorbital ring is very narrow. There 

 is an excavated bony plate at its inner side, to support the eyeball 

 from beneath ; this plate articulates with the pterygoid by a rather 

 strong process. The frontals form a high and very convex bony 

 protuberance, ^pierced by several pairs of pores, whilst the super- 

 ciliary portion is thin, and without bony excrescences ; from that 

 bony protuberance afises the high, triangular, occipital crest, with 

 the upper margia slightly convex. The lateral crests also are well 

 developed. The basal portion of the brain-capsule is slightly com- 

 pressed. The glosso-hyal rather short, cuneifoiTn, with the anterior 

 extremity thickest. The urohyal is veiy deeply notched posteriorly, 

 terminating in two processes, the upper of which is flat, in a vertical 

 direction, whilst the lower horizontal one is again forked, and forms 

 two long spines. The pubic bones are elongate, each being formed 

 by three lamellae of nearly equal development. 



There are ten abdominal and fourteen caudal vertebrae, the length 

 of the former portion of the vertebral column being to that of the 

 latter as 1 : 1-34. The neural spines are of moderate length; those 



