COLEOPTERA, SI 



1. Those in which the body is oval ; the thorax nearly trapezoidal, 

 arcuated, laterally, or forminpc a semioval, truncated anteriorly, 

 wider than the abdomen, at least at its posterior margin, but slightly 

 or not at all bordered ; in which the maxillary palpi terminate by a 

 securiform joint or one of an analogous figure, and where the an- 

 tennjE insensibly enlarge. In 



Crypticus, Lat. — Blaps, Fab., 



The body is convex and smooth above ; the head exposed or but 

 slightly received into the emargination of the thorax, and its ante- 

 rior edge unemarginate ; the eyes exterior or entin^ly outside of the 

 anterior concavity of the thorax; and this last part insensibly in- 

 clined on the sides and but slightly emarginated before. The antennae 

 are almost as long as the thorax, and most of their joints in the 

 form of a revm-sed heart or turbiniform, the penultimates alone being 

 more rounded or almost granose, bvit not transversal. The tibiae 

 are always narrow and elongated, and the spurs of their extremity 

 tolerably salient *. 



Opatruai, Fab. Dej. — Phylan, 3Ic(j. 



The body generally less elevated and even frequently depressed ; 

 the head and eyes received posteriorly into a deep notch in the 

 thorax, with a small anterior emargination in which the labrum 

 is fixed. 



The thorax is depressed along its sides; the antennae are shorter 

 than the thorax, mostly granose, and the last joints lenticular and 

 transversal. 



The elytra are scabrous or striated. The spurs of the tibiae are 

 very small, and the two anterior are broad and triangular in several. 

 O. sabulosum ; Silpha sabulosa, L.; Oliv., Col., III. 56, i, 4. 

 Length of the body four lines ; black ; usually appearing of a 

 cinereous-grey above ; oval ; thorax arcuated laterally, and rather 

 wider in its middle than the abdomen. Each elytron has three 

 longitudinal elevated lines, each of which, on each side, is ac- 

 companied by a range of little tubercles, arranged alternately 

 and frequently uniting with them; between the exterior margin 

 and the first line, and between the last and the suture, there is 

 also a series of similar tubercles. The anterior tibiae are wider 

 and triangular. Very common in all Europe in sandy locali- 

 ties, and appearing with the first fine weather in spring f. 

 2. Those in which the body is narrow and elongated, almost of 

 the same width posteriorly or wider ; where the thorax is nearly 

 square, and at least almost as long as it is broad, and where the an- 

 tennae form a thick club, or are abruptly dilated at the extremity. 



* Pedimts gluber, Lat., Geuer. Crust, et Insect., II, p. 164 ; Eelops glaber, 

 Oliv., Col., Ill, 58, ii, 12 ; Blaps glabra, Fab., and some other undescribed species 

 from Spain and the Cape of Good Hope. 



t The Opatr., 7, 8, 10, Oliv., lb. See Encyc. Method., article Opatritm, and 

 the Catalogue, &c., of Dejean. The genus Phylan, Meg. and Dej., presents no 

 character which clearly distinguishes it from that of Opatrum. 



