260 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



The males of M. marginellus F. (bispinosus Curt. $ ) and some 

 others have a hook-hke tubercular process at the extremity of the 

 elytra, which Latreille states is seized by the mandibles of the other 

 sex in order to prevent its escape. As, however, it is the male which 

 is thus armed, and as Mr. Stephens has ascertained that both sexes 

 of another species (M. bituberculatus) and also M. binotatus Bab. 

 exhibit this structure, I should think that Latreille's statement is 

 scarcely correct. I have published some further observations on this 

 subject {Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vii., and see Ent. Mag. vol. iv. p. 365.). 



The larva of Malachius aeneus has been observed by Dr. Hammer- 

 schmidt ; but his description of it has not yet been published. Mr. 

 George Waterhouse has published a description and figure of the larva 

 of Dasytes serricornis K. {fig. 28. 22., fig. 23. head of ditto, fig. 21. 

 Dasytes jseratus), which is of an elongate form, soft, pubescent, and 

 gradually swelling towards the apex, which is furnished with a pair of 

 acute spines. Its colour is whitish, variegated with markings of a dull 

 green hue, and it is found early in March in decayed blackthorn and 

 pear trees, in company with the pupa. The imago appeared in April 

 [Entomol. Mag., vol. ii. pi. 10. f 1.). M. Audouin has informed me 

 that he has reared Dasytes plumbeus from the larva, which is of a 

 brownish colour, with dark spots, and which is found in the wood of 

 lime trees. Latreille considers that the larvee of this genus are car- 

 nivorous. The males of some of the species of Dasytes (genus Enicopius 

 Steph.) have the hind leg singularly contorted {fig. 28. 24.) : the penul- 

 timate segment of the abdomen is also notched in the males of all the 

 species, and the terminal segment often armed with particular append- 

 ages. 



The species of the genus Aplocnemus Steph. (Elicopis Besser) ap- 

 pear to recede from the others in their habits, the typical species A. 

 impressus Marsh [fig. 28. \^., fig. 15. maxilla, j%. 16. labial palpus, 

 fig. 17. tarsus of ditto), being found under the bark of trees, in which 

 situation (in elm trees) the larva {fig. 28. 18.) has been found by Mr. 

 G. R. Waterhouse during the winter. It is nearly half an inch long, of 

 an elongate, depressed form, and fleshy consistence, and clothed with 

 hairs ; the head [fig. 28. 20., fig. 19. one of the mandibles), prothorax, 

 and terminal segment being coriaceous ; the meso- and meta-thorax 

 having also a pair of lateral black coriaceous patches ; the last seg- 

 ment is armed with a pair of obtuse corneous points. Its colour 

 varies from white to purple ( Trans. Ent. Soc, vol. . pi. 6.). 



