BEETLES. 49 



yellow band at the base and tip of the elytra ; or the thorax may 

 be of one of these colours. Malachius Insignis, Buq., is an Algerian 

 species of a green colour, tipped with yellow in the male. Chakas, 

 Dej., is a South American genus remarkable for its very broad 

 oval shape, which resembles that of some of the Lycince, and 

 differs much from any European species of Malachiidce. The 

 species frequent potato and other solanaceous plants. C. Tra- 

 beatus, Fairm., is black, with a large red blotch on each side at the 

 base of the elytra, and another at the tip. 



FAMILY V. Cleridce. 



Body cylindrical, narrowed in front ; antennae rather short, 

 gradually thickened, the last three joints forming a club ; head not 

 contracted behind ; abdomen soft, covered by the elytra ; tarsi 

 variable ; habits carnivorous. 



A rather extensive family. Many of the species which it 

 includes are of bright colours, but they are often sluggish insects. 

 Clerus Formicarius, Linn., is an insect which slightly resembles an 

 ant in shape and general appearance, whence its name. It is 

 about one-third of an inch long, and is red, with the head, the 

 front of the collar, the femora and tibiae, and the elytra, black. 

 The elytra are red at the base, beyond which is a slender angulated 

 whitish band, and there is another towards the tip. Trichodes, 

 Herbst, includes several larger species, with four-jointed tarsi. They 

 are half an inch long, and of a red colour, banded with steel blue, 

 and extremely pubescent. The larvae have been met with in the 

 nests of various species of bees, but their economy is not yet 

 clearly understood. Among the more interesting foreign species 

 of this family we may mention Evenus Filiformis, Cast., from 

 Madagascar, which is reddish brown, with yellow elytra, marked 

 with a transverse black spot in the middle ; and Pelonium Trifas- 

 ciatum, Cast., from Brazil, which is black, also with yellow elytra, 

 but marked with three black stripes. 



SECTION VIIL TEREDILIA. 



Tarsi generally five-jointed ; body hard ; prosternum neither 

 dilated in front nor produced into a point behind ; antennae gener- 

 ally filiform ; abdomen nearly always composed of five segments. 



This section, though not very extensive, includes several 

 insects which are exceedingly injurious, and which we have now 

 to consider. Most of the larvae are wood-borers. 



D 



