.'] HETEROMERA. 5 



BLAPTINA. 



In this tribe the clypeus is entire, or nearly entire, at ape.x ; the head 

 is prominent and slightly narrowed behind the eyes ; the metasternum 

 is very short and the epipleurse of the elytra are very large and broadly 

 embrace the sides of the abdomen ; the legs are long and the tibial spurs 

 are distinct ; the femora are elongate and considerably exceed the 

 margin of the elytra, and the tarsi are channelled and setose beneath ; 

 three genera belonging to the tribe are found in Europe, of which one 

 is represented in Britain ; between this tribe and the Crypticina there 

 intervene the large and important genera Asida and Pimelia, neither 

 of which are found in this country. 



BZiAPS, Fabrieius. 



About one hundred and thirty species belong to this genus, of which 

 more than forty are found in Europe, and the chief part of the re- 

 mainder in Northern and Central Asia and Northern Africa ; hardly 

 any occur in the tropics, where they are replaced by allied genera ; they 

 are large, dark, repulsive-looking insects, and our common species B. 

 mucronata is commonly known as the " churchyard beetle," owing to 

 the fact that the members of the genus are often found in vaults, 

 cellars, &c. ; three species only occur in Britain, one of which is very 

 lare ; in the late Mr. "W. Garney's collection there is a specimen of . 

 cjayes, L. (giyas, F.), which was originally in Mr. Griesbach's collection, 

 and was formerly taken in the south of England, but it is an evident 

 importation ; the species have the three penultimate joints of the 

 antenna3 dull and rounded, and the last joint acuminate, the second being 

 very short and the third very long, four or five times as long as second ; 

 the prosternum has no process behind the anterior coxa?, and all the pairs 

 of coxae, beginning from the anterior pair, become gradually more widely 

 distant ; the tarsi beneath are biseriately setose ; the general sculpture is 

 feeble. 



The larva of Blaps similis is described and figured by Scbiodte (Dc Metamorplios 

 Eleutheratorum, x. p. 532, pi. v5. fig. 1) ; it is of a pale colour, with the head, legs, 

 and ninth segment of the abdomen slightly ferruginous and the mandibles and claws 

 pitchy ; the shape is linear and very parallel but rather broader than iu some of the 

 allied larvae ; the prothorax is the longest segment, and the anal segment is mucronate 

 at apex ; the full-grown larva presents no truces of ocelli ; it inhabits dark holes and 

 corners, cellars, &c., and lives on vegetable matter. 



I. Antennae longer, with joints 4-7 oblong, more or less 



elongate, 

 i. Form narrower; thorax distinctly narrowed behind; 



apical process of elytra longer B. MORTISAGA, L. 



ii. Form broader; thorax slightly narrowed behind; 



apical process of elytra shorter B. MUCEOSATA, Latr. 



II. Antennae shorter, with joints 4-7 short oval and 



rounded ; form broad B. SIMIIIS, Latr. 



B. mortisag-a, L. (acuminata, Dej.). Black, upper side rather dull, 

 under-side shiny, moderately elongate ; clypeus without smooth central 



