COLEOPTERA. 21 



maxillae is truncated, or obtuse and entire. These Insects are gene- 

 rally largo and ornamented with brilliant colours *. 



The others, proper to the hot climates of both continents, are desti- 

 tute of the sternal projection ; the crotchets of the tarsi, or one of 

 them, are bifid ; their maxillae frequently terminate by two or three 

 teeth. 



Sometimes the antennse consist of ten joints, and the superior ex- 

 tremity of the jaws is entire or at most emarginatc or bidentate. In 



Leucothyreus, iViac Leay. 



One of the tarsial crotchest is entire and the other bifid. 



The tarsi, at least the anterior ones, arc furnished with a brush be- 

 neath ; the latter are dilated in the males. The under part of their 

 liead is more densely pilose than in the females f. In 



Apogonia, Kirh. Mac Leay. 



All the crotchest of the tarsi are bifid J. 



Sometimes the antennas consist of but nine joints, and the extre- 

 mity of the maxillae presents three teeth. In 



Geniates, Kirh. 



The extremity of the mandibles is emarginated. Under the mem- 

 tum of the males we observe a sort of circular brush formed of com- 

 pact hairs, plane or incised like a whisk (en maniere de vergette). 

 The foTir first joints of their anterior tarsi are dilated and furnished 

 underneath with a brush. One of the crotchets of all the tarsi is entire 

 and the other bifid. The anterior of the two first is accompanied at 

 its base by a corneous lamina, emarginated inferiorly and rounded at 

 the end, forming a sort of spur ||. ^ 



A second division of the Xylophili, which v/ill comprise the Melo- 

 lonthidre of Mac Leay, presents the following characters : the labrum 

 is in the form of a transversal leaflet, most commonly strongly emar- 

 ginated underneath in its middle, so that viewed from before, it has 

 almost the figure of a reversed and semi truncated heart. The men- 

 turn is as long as it is broad, or longer, somewhat narrowed before 

 the svimmit, and either square or almost cordiform ; its superior mar- 

 gin is straight, or more or less emarginated or concave in the middle, 

 but without any dentiform dilatation. The maxillse are usually scaly 

 and armed with several — commonlv five or six — teeth. 



This division may be separated into two sections, one of which will 

 embrace the genus Melolontha of Fahricius, as restricted by Illiger 

 and myself, and the other that of Hoplia, Lat. The first of these sub- 



* See Hor. Eutom., I, 143, and Lin. Trans., XII, p. 401, 405. 



t Hor. Entoin., I, p. 145 ; — Melolontha sukicoUis, Germ., Insect. Spec. Nov., 

 p. 124. 



+ Kirb., Lin. Trans., XII, p. 401 -.—A. gemellata, ejusd., lb. XXI, 9. 



II Kirby, Lin. Trans., XII, p. 401 ; — Geniates barhatus, lb., XXXI, 8. The Me- 

 lolonthae ohscura, lanata, Feb., the species called niyrifrons by M. Stevens, and de- 

 scribed in the Synon. Insect, of Schoenherr, I, 3, App. 115, and probably other 

 species, seem to form a separate subgenus allied to that of Geniates, but with undi- 

 lated tarsi. 



