LANGURIA. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Body rather slender, cylindrical; antennae 

 with a gradually formed cluh of five or six 

 joints ; palpi filiform, terminal joint of the la- 

 biales a little larger than the others; mandibles 

 bifid at tip; maxillae with horny teeth; tarsi 

 with dense hairs beneath the three basal joints, 

 the third bilobate. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



The manners and habits of these insects are 

 but little known, and as the species are chiefly 

 North American, it is with our entomologists, 

 that the task of investigating them will rest. 

 They have been said to frequent flowers, and 

 I can corroborate the truth of the remark, by 

 stating that I have frequently found them on 

 flowers myself; but as Latreille observes, if they 

 feed only on the contents of the nectary, to 

 what use can the horny teeth be applied with 

 which their jaws are furnished? This is a very 



PLATE 39. 



