ARTIG UL AT A. 159 



has its station, in such a manner as to imitate the ticking of a 

 watch, 



Lymexylon^ the type of the family Lymexylonidce., is very destructive to 

 ship timber in the dockyards of Europe, 



Tlie Bostrichidce have a hard cylindrical body, a deeply seated globular 

 head, clavate antennae, strong mandibles, and the pronotum projecting over 

 the head, and often scabrous. They live in timber, boring holes in the wood 

 and bark. 



With few exceptions, the section Ileteromera have four articulations to 

 the posterior tarsi, and five to the others. Tliey are generally vegetable 

 feeders, and differ much in their habits. Some live upon plants, and are 

 variously colored ; others live in dark places, and are of obscure colors ; 

 and some, which are allied to the latter, are found in desert plains, Latreille 

 divides this section into four groups, named Melasoma^ Taxicornia, Stene- 

 lytra^ and Trachelides. Westwood divides them into three stirpes, Traolielia^ 

 Yaricolores, and Melasomata. The Ti-aohelia {Pi/)'Ochroa, 2^^- ^^i fff- ^^) 

 are an extension of Latreille's group Iraohelides, and contain a number of 

 active insects, with the body and elytra soft. They are found npon plants, 

 and are generally of bright colors. The head is enlarged behind the eyes, 

 and the antennae are slender and branched. 



Westwood indicates the following families in his tribe Trachelia : 1, 

 Wotoxidce / 2, Pyrochroidcs / 3, LagriidcB / 4, Ilortidce / 5, Mordellidce / 

 Q^ MeloidcB ; 1 ^ Scdjnngidcß ; 8, Oedemeridoe; 9^ Melajidryidm. 



There is a good deal of confusion in the names of several genera of 

 Heteromera,f on account of an endeavor to set aside names which should 

 stand on the ground of priority. Linnaeus, the inventor of the modern 

 nomenclature, applied certain ancient names, as CiGindela, Buprestis^ and 

 Cantharis^ to insects, without caring particularly to what insects they were 

 applied by the ancients, and properly, because with the ancients these were 

 worthless vernacular names ; and as we do not go either to Pliny or to a 

 modern retailer of drugs to learn entomologj^, we have no particular interest 

 in knowing the names objects bear with them. 



With Linnaeus, the blistering flies formed a part of his genus Meloe, and 

 he formed a genus, Cantharis^ in 1735, for an insect to which Schteffer 

 applied the useless synonym of TeUfhorus^ in 176G. In 1764, Geoftroy 

 properly separated the blistering flies from Meloe^ assigning to them the 

 name Cantkaris of the druggists, which he had no right to do, that name 

 being already applied to a genus, so that it was virtually without a name until 

 Fabricius, in 1775, rectified the blunder of Geoffi-oy, by naming the blister 

 flies Lytta^ a name adopted by Dejean, Say, Erichson, and others. 



Many of the Meloidce have the power of raising blisters when applied to 

 the skin, and different species are used for this purpose in different coun- 

 tries. In Meloe [jyl. 81, ficj. 7), one of the elytra laps over the other at 

 the base. 



The tribe Atrachelia have the head enlarged and deeply set ; they are in 

 general dark-colored, living in dark places, and running slowly upon the 

 ground. A few of the families a)-e bright-colored, and are found upon 



363 



