COLEOPTERA. RUTELID7E. 213 



the extensive families of Dynastidfe, Anoplognathida^, and Rutelidae 

 are sometimes very slight^ consisting either in the concealed labrum, 

 the transverse, section of the clypeus, or the anteriorly porrected 

 mesosternum. 



Mr. Hope's Coleopterisf s Manual must be consulted for various 

 new genera separated from the typical genus. The two or three 

 species of this family recorded to have been found in this country, 

 were probably imported, as it is not likely such large insects would 

 have escaped the observation of our numerous collectors, had they 

 been real inhabitants. 



The sixth family Rutelid.t: consists entirely of exotic, and, for the 

 most part, brilliantly coloured insects, of a moderate size, having the 

 body of an ovate, subconvex or depressed form, and shorter and more 

 rounded than in the Dynastidae, from which they also differ in wanting 

 the remarkable horns which arm the males of the latter family 

 {Jig- 21. 7. Rutela lineola from Brazil.) The antennae are 10-jointed; 

 the club 3-jointed ; the labrum is exserted with the anterior margin, 

 coriaceous {fig- 21. 8.) ; the mandibles are short and horny, and 

 more or less exserted with a notch on the outer margin near the tip 

 Jig. 21 9.) ; the maxillae are also horny and truncate, and with five or 

 six teeth at the tip, with the inside sometimes membranous {Jig. 21. 

 10.); the labium is concealed by the mentum (_y?^. 21. ii.) ; the 

 elytra do not conceal the extremity of the abdomen ; the thorax is 

 transverse-quadrate ; the scutellum is large and distinct ; the meso- 

 sternum is anteriorly produced between the base of the middle legs 

 (^Jig.1\. 12.); the legs are robust, with the posterior femora some- 

 times greatly thickened ; the claws of the tarsi are generally unequal 

 in size^ and occasionally divided. The clypeus commonly exhibits a 

 transverse section, dividing it, as it were, into two parts before the 

 eyes. 



The curious genus Hexodon, serving to connect this family with 

 the preceding, but respecting whose country and habits natu- 

 ralists have been in doubt, has recently been discovered in con- 

 siderable numbers by M. Luczot in Madagascar upon the sand, and 

 not upon leaves as stated by Latreille. A new species of this genus 

 has been described by Mr. Hope under the name of II. Kirbii (H. 



p 3 



