COLEOPTERA. itf 



of their bod)', the proportions of tlie scutelhim and of the sternal point; 

 but the extremity of the narrower mandibles is obtuse and entire ; 

 the maxillae have only two teeth and a pencil of hairs, and the men- 

 turn is an elongated ovoid narrowed near the superior extremity, and 

 its margin ciliated. All the tarsial crotchets are entire *. 



There, an axillary piece — the same observed in that place in Ceto- 

 nia, or the epimera of M. Audouin — fills the space comprised be- 

 tween the posterior angles of the thorax and the exterior angles of 

 the base of the elytra. 



Ometis, Lat. \ 

 The genus Melolontlia of Fabricius will form our fourth and fifth 

 sections. 



The fourth, that of the PnyLLOPHAGi, is composed of Scarabaeides 

 that closely approach those of the two last subgenera ; but the man- 

 dibles are covered above by tlie epistoma, and concealed beneath by 

 the maxillae ; their outer side is alone exposed, without however over- 

 lapping ; the outer side presents none of the sinuses or dentations 

 observed there in Rutela and other analogous subgenera. The an- 

 terior edge of the labrum is exposed ; it is sometimes in the form of 

 a reversed and wide triangle, and most frequently transversely lami- 

 niform, and emarginated in the middle. The number of the anten- 

 nal joints is not constant, and varies from eight to ten ; the same re- 

 mark applies to those of the club, and in several, with respect to this, 

 the two sexes differ greatly. The ligula is entirely covered by the 

 mentum, or incorporated with its anterior face, and the elytra are 

 c(>mpletely joined along the whole of the suture, characters which dis- 

 tinguish these Insects from those of the fifth section. 



The family of the Anoplognathides of M. Mac Leay, and some 

 other subgenera closely allied to some of those in the preceding sec- 

 tion, will compose our first division. The epistoma is thickened an- 

 teriorly, and either alone or with the labrum forms a vertical facet in 

 the figure of a reversed triangle, the point of which rests on the men- 

 tum. The latter is sometimes almost ovoid, densely pilose, with the 

 extremity either rounded or truncated and unemarginate ; sometimes 

 it forms a transverse square, with the middle of the superior margin 

 prolonged into a tooth, simple or emarginate. The maxillae of some 

 are terminated by a coriaceous or membranous lobe that is densely 

 pilose, edentate, or with but very small teeth, situated near the middle 

 of the inner side; those of others are entirely corneous, resemble 

 mandibles, and are either truncated, or obtuse and entire at the end, 

 or terminated by two or three teeth. 



Those, in Avhich the mentum is almost ovoid and very hairy, and 

 whose maxillae terminate in a similarly pilose, triangular lobe, with- 

 out teeth, or with but very small ones situated near the middle of its 

 inner margin, form two subgenera |. 



* See Rutela, Encyc. Method., and Hor. Entora. 



t Rutela cftoniuides, Encyc. M^-thod. ; —Rutela cerata, Germ. ; — AnisopUa histrio ? 

 Dej., but with aatennre of nine joints. 



This subgenus seems to connect these and the preceding Insects with the Cetoniae. 

 + The sternum presents no projection whatever. 



