BOLETOPHAGUS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Body very rough, oval, convex ; head rather 

 large, vs^ithout a neck ; eyes almost bisected by 

 the prominent margin; antennae arcuated, in- 

 serted beneath the margin, thicker towards the 

 tip ; mandibles destitute of a horny nail ; palpi 

 filiform, terminal joint of the maxillaries cylin- 

 drical : thorax transverse, as broad as the elytra, 

 the anterior angles projected forwards: scutel 

 small, rounded : elytra covering the tergum. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



In consequence of the rough unequal character 

 of the surface of these insects, their appearance 

 is repulsive to the common observer, but in the 

 estimation of an entomologist, their claims to 

 his attention are in no respect diminished by any 

 supposed departure from a particular standard 

 of beauty. They have been referred by the 

 different authors to the genera Opatrum, Trox, 

 DiAPERis, and even Silpha and Hispa. But 



PLATE 51. 



