COLEOPTERA. 65 



There the body is usually narrow and elongated, the maxillary 

 palpi are terminated by a securiform joint, and the penultimate joint 

 of the tarsi, or at least of the four anterior ones, is bilobate. 



Sometimes the antennse are thick and composed of short obconical 

 or turbiniform joints. 



In some, as in the two following subgenera, the boby is oval, and 

 the thorax transversal or almost isometrical, and becomes widened 

 from before posteriorly, 



DiRC/EA, Fab. — Xylita, Payk. 

 Or Dircaea properly so called, where the maxillary palpi are not 

 serrated, and their last joint projects more on the inner side than the 

 preceding ones. The thorax is insensibly lowered on the side. The 

 scutellum is very small *. 



Melandrya, Fab., 

 Where the maxillary palpi are evidently serrated, the extremity of 

 the second and third joint being prolonged into a point, and on a 

 level with the fourth or the last. The thorax is abruptly depressed 

 laterally, near its posterior angles, and the posterior margin is sinu- 

 ous. The scutellum is of an ordinary size f. 



In the following subgenus, the body is narrow and almost linear. 

 The thorax forms a long square, narrowed posteriorly. 



Hypulus, Payk. — Diec^a, Fab. 



The antennae longer than in the preceding subgenus, slightly per- 

 foliate and more separate ; the three last joints of the maxillary palpi 

 forming, together, an oval club ];. 



Sometimes the antennae are slender, and composed of elongated 

 and almost cylindrical joints ; the body is long and narrow, and the 

 abdomen elongated. 



Serropalpus, HeUiv. Payk. — Dirc^a, Fab. 

 Where the body is firm, the maxillary palpi are strongly serrated, 

 the thorax is at least as long as it is wide, and the four posterior tarsi 

 are long ; all the joints of the two last are entire or without any ap- 

 parent incisures §. 



CONOPALPUS, Gyil., 



Where the body is soft, the maxillary palpi are but slightly sei-- 

 rated, the thorax is transversal, and the tarsi moderately elongated ; 

 the penultimate joint of the whole number is bilobate |[. 



* Gyll., Insect. Suec, I, p. 516, mimis the species which he calls the Ufasciata, 

 quercina — see Hypulus, and fuscula — see Scraptia. 



t Gyll., Insect. Suec, I, ii, p. 533, with the exception of the M. ruficollis— 

 Dircaa ruficollis, Fab. — which it appears to me should be referred to the subgenus 

 Conopalpus. 



+ Dirccea bifctsciata, Gyll., Insect. Suec, I, ii, p. 522 ; — ejusd., D. quercina, lb., 

 p. 523. 



§ Gyll., Insect. Suec, I, ii, p. 514; Lat., Gener. Crust, et Insect,, II, p. 192, 

 and I, ix, 12. 



II Gyll., lb,, p. 547 ; Dejean, Catal., p. 70. 



