TENEBRIONID.E TENTH REDO. 



trees found in Australia. The flowers belong to 

 Linnosus' fourth class, and to the natural order Pro- 

 teacece. It is the Warntah of the natives ; and the 

 utmost skill of our practical botanists has been exerted 

 to flower this fine plant, and they have succeeded by 

 growing 1 them in a compost of light loam, heath- 

 mould, and sand ; keeping the pots well drained, and 

 in an airy situation in a greenhouse, and watering 

 them cautiously. They are raised chiefly from im- 

 ported seed ; but they may be also increased by cut- 

 tings planted in sand but not at an high temperature. 



TENEBRIONID^E (Leach). A family of cole- 

 opterous insects, belonging to the section Heteromera, 

 and division Melasoma, distinguished by having the 

 body furnished with wings (of which the Pimeliidee 

 and Blapsidce are destitute). The body is oval or 

 oblong, depressed, or but slightly elevated, with the 

 thorax square or trapezoid, and as broad behind as 

 the base of the elytra ; the palpi are dilated at the 

 tips, the terminal joint of the maxillary being trian- 

 gular or hatchet-shaped ; the mentum is narrowed at 

 the base, leaving the maxillie exposed. 



By Linnaeus, the families Tenebrionidce, BlapsideE, 

 and Pimcliida:, were all included in the genus Tene- 

 brio, which takes its name from tenebra, darkness, 

 and is given to them in allusion to their darkling 

 habits. By Fabricius, the genus Tenebriu was re- 

 stricted to the insects of the present family, and by 

 the still further restriction of modern authors, the 

 name is generically confined to the meal-worm beetle, 

 Tenebriu molitor of Linnneus. The other genera are 

 Crypticus, Epilmgus, Opatrum, Toxichum, Sarrotrium, 

 Ckiroscelis and Upis, Mr. Stephens adds Diaperis 

 and some other genera placed by Latreille in the 

 division Taxicornes, as well as Stcne, Usoma Alphi- 

 tobhis, Pedinus, and several other allied genera. 



The typical genus Tcnebrio, as now restricted, 

 comprises those species which have the body elon- 

 gate, rather narrow, and sub-depressed ; the thorax 

 is broader than long; the upper lip is coriaceous and 

 entire ; the antennae have the five terminal joints 

 rather depressed and thickened, and the fore legs 

 simple. These insects delight in obscure situations, 

 hence their colours are of corresponding hues. They 

 chiefly frequent the lower rooms of houses, cellars, 

 &c., in moist situations, especially delighting in bake- 

 houses, corn-mills, and other places where wheat is 

 kept, upon which the larvae feed ; these larvae are 

 termed meal-worms, and are well known to bird- 

 fanciers as a favourite food of the nightingale and 

 other cage birds, and by whom they are reared in 

 great quantities ; it is essential, however, to have the 

 tops of the pans in which they are kept closed with 

 a leaden cover, as they will make their way through 

 wood. These larvae are cylindrical, about an inch in 

 length, very smooth, of a shining yellowish red colour, 

 composed of twelve scaly segments exclusive of the 

 head, which is rather depressed, and furnished with 

 two mandibles, antennae, and very minute palpi; each 

 of the three anterior segments of the body is furnished 

 with a pair of short scaly legs ; the terminal segment is 

 conical, with two small brown hooks, and furnished on 

 the under side with a fleshy retractile proleg, which is 

 employed by the insect when in motion as an extra 

 leg. The meal-worm changes its skin several times ; 

 it avoids the light, and when exposed in the midst 

 of its food, it immediately endeavours to burrow itself 

 into the adjacent biscuit or flour in which it has 

 taken up its abode. After the last shedding of its 



skin, it'appears as a pupa, without having constructed 

 any cocoon. After remaining about six weeks in this 

 state the perfect insect makes its escape from the 

 pupa skin, being at first of a pale reddish colour ; it 

 soon, however, attains its ordinary black hue. It 

 immediately seeks its partner, and wanders but little 

 from the situation in which it was reared. This is 

 the typical species of the genus, and is the Tencbrio 

 molitor of Linnaeus ; it varies in length from five to 

 eight lines, is of a brownish-black colour above, dark 

 pitchy-red beneath ; the thorax as broad as the 

 elytra, with two posterior impressions, and the elytra 

 are finely punctured and striated. 



There are three other British^species; one of which, 

 T. Icevis, Stephens, is unique in the collection of the 

 writer hereof. 



According to M. Lacordaire, Tenebrio gigas (an 

 inhabitant of Brazil, where it resides under the baik 

 of trees), ejects a caustic fluid from the extremity of 

 the body when disturbed, to the distance of nearly a 

 foot. Other smaller species of the same country 

 cover themselves entire with the same matter. 



TENOIDiE, or T^NOID^E, the ribbon- fish family. 

 The eighteenth family of those into which Cuvier 

 divides the spinous-finned lishes. In their characters 

 they approach pretty near to the mackerel family ; 

 but they differ much in shape. They are very long 

 in the body, and flattened in the sides, and have the 

 scales small. They are divided into three tribes or 

 sections. 



1. The muzzle long, the gape deep, the lower jaw 

 projecting beyond the upper, and the teeth large. 

 There are two genera : Lepidopus, with the ventral 

 fins in the shape of two scaly plates, the body long 

 and slender, a dorsal fin along the whole length, a 

 low anal fin, and a well-formed caudal. Trichiurus 

 hare the mouth, teeth, and general form of the body 

 the same, but no ventrals or caudal, and the tail 

 drawn out in the form of a slender thread. 



2. The muzzle short, and the gape small. Of these 

 also there arc two genera : Gymnotus have no anal, 

 but a long dorsal, with the anterior rays produced, 

 and forming a sort of tuft; the ventrals long, and the 

 tail ending in a sort of hook; they can crawl and 

 climb ; their flesh is soft, and decays rapidly. Stylo- 

 phorus have the general characters of the other, but 

 the tail drawn out into a slender filament longer than 

 the body. 



3. The muzzle short, and gape opening obliquely. 

 Of these also there are two genera : Cephala (ribbon 

 fishes), the dorsal and anal fins long, extending to the 

 base of the caudal, which is also well developed. 

 Lophotis, the head with an elevated bony crest, to 

 which a long and strong spine is articulated, with a 

 membrane on the posterior edge, the opening of the 

 month directed upwards, and the eyes very large. 



All these fishes are remarkable for the slenderness 

 and thinness of their bodies as compared with the 

 length ; some of them have a rich metallic lustre, and 

 appear like silver ribbons. 



TENTHREDO (Linnaeus; or rather TENTHRE- 

 DINIDJE, Leach). A family of hymenopterous insects, 

 known under the ordinary name of saw-flies, distin- 

 guished by having the abdomen attached to the thorax 

 by its entire breadth, by the organs of oviposition not 

 being exserted, and by the form of the larvas, which, 

 instead of being footless grubs, like the maggots of 

 wasps, &c., are provided with a great number of legs, 

 resembling the caterpillars of lepidopterous insects. 



