272 INSECTS. COLKOPTERA. 



L. navale, Lat. Pale yellow, with the head, exterior margin and 

 extremity of the elytra black ; male dark-coloured. Inhabits Eu- 

 rope, in oak wood. Lat. Gen. i. 268. 



Gen. CUPES, Fab. 



Palpi equal, terminated by a truncated joint ; antennae cylin- 

 drical and simple. 



C. capitata, Fab. Obscure brown, except the head, which is red- 

 dish yellow. North America. Lat. Ge?i. i. pi. 8, fig. 2. 



TRIBE VIII. PTINIORES. 



Body ovoid or cylindrical, rounded at both ends, convex above ; 

 head short, orbicular, partly concealed in the thorax ; man- 

 dibles short, thick, and dentated ; antennae filiform, setace- 

 ous, or flabelliform, pectinated or serrated, but always sim- 

 ple, terminated in some cases by three longer or broader 

 joints ; palpi short and thick at their extremity ; tarsi short. 



The insects of this tribe chiefly inhabit the interior of houses and granaries. They 

 are of small size, and when touched counterfeit death, by contracting their feet and 

 appearing motionless. They commit great ravages in museums and herbariums. 



Gen. DORCATOMA, Herbst. Fab. Dermestes, Lin. 

 Antennae of nine joints, terminated abruptly by three larger 

 ones, and the next two serrated. 



D. Dresdensis, Herbst Col. iv. pi. 39, fig. 8. 



Gen. ANOBIUM, Fab. Lat. Ptinus, Lin. Byrrhus, Geoff. 

 Antennae of eleven joints, terminated by three larger joints, the 

 terminal one oval, the two others in the form of a reversed cone/ 



Many species of this genus inhabit the interior of houses, where they do much 

 injury in their larvze state by perforating wood, books, &c. which they bore in round 

 holes. Both sexes in the season of love have the habit of calling one another by 

 striking rapidly with their mandibles on the wood where they are placed. This 

 noise, similar to the accelerated beating of a watch, has occasioned their receiving 

 the vulgar name of Death-watch. Like the Dermestes, as soon as they are touch- 

 ed, they contract their members and fall as it were lifeless ; and so invincible is 

 this simulation, that, according to De Geer, neither fire nor water has the effect of 

 rousing them to any sign of life. They rarely fly, although their wings are strong 

 and much longer than the elytra. 



A. tessellatum, Fab. Body obscure brown, with yellowish spots 

 formed by hairs ; elytra without striae. 3 lines long. Inhabits 

 Europe Lat. Gen. i. 276. 



A. pertinax, Lat. (A. striatum, Fab.) Blackish, with a yellowish 

 spot at each posterior angle of the thorax, and near the centre of 

 its base a compressed elevation divided in two ; elytra with dot- 

 ted striae. Inhabits Europe Lat. Gen. i. 276. 



Gen. PTILINUS, Geoff. Lat. Dermestes, Ptinus, Lin. 

 Antennae filiform, pectinated or serrated, longer than the tho- 

 rax ; elytra convex ; tarsi filiform, of five joints, of which 

 the first two are largest. 



