178 SERRICORMA [Limtxylon. 



timber, and recommended that the wood should be sunk under water 

 at the time when the perfect insect made its appearance, by which 

 means it was secured against further attacks. 



Zi. navale, L. Elongate, subcylindrical, clothed with short silky 

 pubescence ; head large, very closely and finely rugose, very strongly 

 contracted at base ; thorax longer than broad, subcylindrical, not mar- 

 gined, narrowed in front, closely punctured, with traces of a central 

 furrow, especially at base; scutellum rather long, oblong; elytra long, 

 very finely sculptured, with traces of raised lines; legs long and slender. 

 L. 4|-10 mm. 



Male black, with the front part of thorax and the posterior angles of 

 the same, and the base and a sutural band on elytra, as well as the legs 

 and abdomen, yellow or reddish-yellow; maxillary palpi flabellate. 



Female yellow or reddish-yellow, with the sides and apex of elytra 

 black ; maxillary palpi simple. 



In both living and dead oak ; found by Mr. J. Chappell in all stages in Dunham 

 Park, Manchester; Stretford, Manchester, and Bowdon, Cheshire (Keston) ; 

 Windsor Forest (Stephens and Bowring) ; Portsmouth (Power). 



PTINIDJE. 



The name Bruchidas is now given by several continental authors to 

 this family, on the ground that the Bruchus of Geoffroy has the priority 

 of the Ptinus of Linne ; as, however, the name of Ptinidae has been so 

 long applied to the family, and the name of Bruchidae has been also so 

 long used to denominate another well-known family, it seems a very 

 great pity to cause the confusion that must necessarily result from the 

 change of nomenclature. 



The family comprises about sixty genera and four hundred species ; 

 some of the genera have, however, been subdivided into several further 

 genera by different authors, especially Mulsant, Kiesenwetter, and 

 Eeitter; the species are widely distributed over the surface of the 

 world, and are small, oblong, round or oval insects, which, in many 

 cases, are exceedingly destructive ; they are characterized by having the 

 antennae long and filiform, or very faintly serrate and inserted upon the 

 front, as a rule, 11-jointed; the thorax is narrower than the elytra, and 

 usually constricted at base; the elytra are, as a rule, more or less 

 rounded, and sometimes globular, and completely cover the abdomen; 

 the legs are long and not retractile, with the femora usually clavate at 

 apex; the tarsi are 5-jointed, with the first joint not shorter than the 

 second; the abdomen is composed of five ventral segments, of which the 

 first is not elongate. 



The larvae of the Ptinid do not call for any particular remark ; they are small 

 fleshy grubs, which have the body bent in a semicircular position, a character that 

 causes them to bear a somewhat strong analogy to the larva of the Lamellicoruia ; 

 there ara no ocelli, and the antennw are short and inserted immediately above the 



