MALACHIUS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Body furnished with cocardes ; head retracted 

 to the eyes within the thorax; antennae ten- 

 jointed, filiform, serrated ; mandibles emarginate ; 

 labium entire; palpi filiform; tarsi simple, nails 

 with a tooth beneath; elytra flexible. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Linneus referred these insects to his genus 

 Cantharis; from which his learned successor, 

 Fabricius, separated them, and constituted a 

 group under the present name, derived from 

 the Greek word ^^xxMi, which means soft^ 

 delicate^ in allusion to the consistence of the 

 body. They differ from the genus Dasytes, 

 Payk. in being less elongated, and furnished with 

 the cocardes^ their antennae also are placed nearer 

 together at base ; otherwise the two genera are 

 closely allied. 



These insects are frequent in some situations 

 on flowers, the nectareous juices of which they 



PLATE 48. M 



