COLEOPTERA, 445 



domicll in the country, in old wood, and under stones; their habits 

 are the same. 



Such are the characters of the genus 



Ptinus, Lin. 

 In some, the head and thorax, or the anterior half of the body, is 

 narrower than the abdomen ; the antennce are always terminated in 

 the same manner, simple or but slightly serrated, and at least almost 

 as long as the body. 



Ptinus, Lin., Fab, — Bruchus, Geoff. 



The antenna? of the true Ptini arc inserted between the eyes, which 

 are protuberant or convex. Their body is oblong. 



They are generally found in houses, and chiefly in granaries and 



inhabited places. Their larvae destroy our herbaria and desiccated 



specimens of animals. The antennae of the males are longer than 



those of the females, and, in several species, these latter are apterous. 



P. fur, L., Fab. ; P. latro, striatm, F. ; Oliv. Col. 11, 17, i. 1, 



3 ; ii, 9, var. of the male. One line and a half in length ; light 



brown ; antennae as long as the body ; a pointed projection on 



each side of the thorax, and between them two others, rounded 



and covered with a yellowish down : two transverse, greyish 



bands on the elytra, formed by hairs. 



According to De Gecr, it feeds on Flies and other dead In- 

 sects that fail in its way. The larva? are very injurious to her- 

 baria and other collections of natural history. 



P. imperialis. Fab. ; Oliv., Jb., I, 4. Remarkable for two 

 spots on the elytra, which, together, form a rudo figure of a 

 two-headed Eagle. On old wood *. 



I have frequently foimd on fecal matters, the P. germain, 

 Lat. Gener. Crust, et Insect., I, p. 279, which is closely allied to 

 the P. fur f. 



GiBBiuM, Scop. — Ptinus, Fab. Oliv. 



The antennae inserted before the eyes, which are flattened and very 

 small ; scutellum wanting or indistinct ; the body short ; abdomen 

 very large, turgid, almost globular and semidiaphanous ; the antennae 

 smaller at the extremity, and the elytra soldered. These Insects 

 also reside in our herbaria, &c. |. 



In the others, the body is oval, ovoid, or nearly cylindrical; the 



* It appears to me that this species belongs to the genus Hedobia of the 

 Catalogue of Dejean. It differs from Ptinus in the antennae, which are more 

 remote from each other, and slightly serrated, and particularly in the tarsi which are 

 short and composed of wide and almost cordiform joints, the last one particularly ; 

 the hooks of the latter are almost always concealed. In Ptinus these tarsi are 

 straight ; and their last joint resembles a reversed cone. The antennae are approxi- 

 mated at base. 



t For the synonymes of the species of this genus, see Schoenh., Synon. Insect. 

 II, 106. 



+ Ptinus scot ias, Fab.; Oliv., Col. lb. I, 2; Panz., Fauu. Insect. Germ., V, 8; 

 —P. sukatus, Fab. 



