218 Mr. R. MacLaclilan's Munoyraph of 



Family II. BOREID^. 



Genus I. Boreus, Latreille. 



Rostrum long ; eyes large, oval ; ocelli absent ; nian- 

 dibles with several teeth at the apex internally ; maxillce 

 connate with the mentum at the base ; maxillary palpi 

 with the joints slender, nearly equal; labial palpi very 

 short, 2-jointed, the second minute. 



Abdomen short and stout. In the (^ the apex is curved 

 upwards ; the terminal dorsal segment is modified into 

 two large cylindrical tubes, from each of which springs a 

 slender appendix, which is directed backwards upon 

 the dorsum ; the last ventral segment takes the form of a 

 large, elongate, oval or triangular plate ; the penultimate 

 segment is very narrow, especially on the dorsum. In 

 the ? the apex is furnished with two elongated slender 

 ventral valvules, in which, and extending beyond which, 

 is a long tri-articulate borer. 



Legs slender, cylindrical ; first joint of the tarsi very 

 long ; ungues two, slender, simple ; 'pulvilli small. 



Wings rudimentaiy. In the (^ four, slender, bristle- 

 like, curved, serrated internally. In the ? in the form 

 of a small scale-like lobe on each side of the meso- 

 thorax. 



Larva living in the earth or amongst moss. 



The following account of the habits of the larva, etc., 

 is abstracted from Brauer's paper, Verh. d. zool.-bot. 

 Ver. in Wien, 1855, pp. 711-712. When paired the 

 female is seated on the back of the male. The females 

 died at the end of March and beginning- of April, and 

 on the 11th May he found larvas in the breeding-glass, 

 half a line in length, which he had little doubt, were 

 those oi Borcus. In a later paper in the same journal, 

 1862, pp. 320-323, is a more detailed account from 

 certain observation. The larva is short, thick, and 

 curved ; the head horny, pale-brown, broadest behind ; 

 the antennas short ; the mandibles toothed internally ; 

 the thoracic segments form the thickest part of the body ; 

 the divisions little evident. The legs, six in number, 

 short, thi"ee-jointed, the first joint thick and conical, the 

 second cylindrical and more slender, the third (or foot) 

 rod-shaped, somewhat curved. The abdomen cylindrical, 

 much thinner than the thorax, and with warts on the 

 sides and above ; the last segment rounded_, without 

 hooks. It fed upon moss, and its food imparted a 



