THYMALUS LIMBATUS. 



Order Coleoptera. Fam. Silphadse Leac/i. Necropliagi Za/. 



Type of the Genus Cassida limbata Fab. 

 Thymalus Lat. Silpha Linn. Cassida, Peltis Fab. 



.4«^en«£E inserted before the eyes, short, 11 -jointed, first joint 

 the lonf^est, clavate, second short and robust, third, fourth and fifth 

 somewhat cylindric, sixth, seventh and eighth, somewhat turbi- 

 nate, the three last large, forming a compressed perfoliated club, 

 the ninth and tenth joints being transverse, the eleventh orbi- 

 cular. (6.) 



Labrum exserted, nearly oval, the posterior margin straight. ( 1 .) 

 Mandibles exserted, bifid at the apex, sometimes dentated inter- 

 nally towards the middle. (2.) 



MaxillcE membranaceous, with a corneous arcuated tooth, ex- 

 ternal process short, curved inward, strongly ciliated and clothed 

 with hair towards the apex : Palpi short and robust, 3-jointed, 

 terminal joint subovate. (3.) 



Mentum small, quadrate : Palpi 2-jointed : Lip large, broader 

 than the mentum, entire, superior margin ciliated, (4.) 

 Head small, nearly concealed by the thorax, which is emarginafe before 

 and broad behind ; the sides being margined. Scutellum A7naW. Elytra 

 viewed together with the thorax elliptic, margined, much broader than 

 the abdomen, which they completely conceal. Wings 2. Feet short, 

 without spines. Tarsi indistinctly 5 -jointed, all simple. 



LiMBATUS Fab. Ent. Syst. v. I, pars I. p. 294. 7i. 11. Syst. Eleii. 

 V. 1. p. 344. 71. 4. 



Pubescent, shining, reddish brown with a slight cupreous cast, 

 the margins of the thorax and elytra appearing brighter. Legs 

 and under side reddish brown. Thorax minutely punctured. 

 Abdomen with numerous longitudinal lines of deep punctures. 



In the Author's and other Cabinets. 



The remarkable habit of our insect, which is so similar to that 

 of Cassida as to have led Fabricius to consider it as belonoino- 

 to that Genus in his earlier works, an error however which 

 he corrected in his Si/stcma Eleiiteratonim^ has induced the 

 Baron Dejean and other Entomologists to separate it from 

 Peltis ; and it is now the only true Thymalus known, Peltis 

 retaining the other four species {grossa, ferruginca Fab. &c.), 



