S26 NATURAL ARRANGEMKN'T OF INSECTS. 



poses, as those coming from a hotter climate, we are un- 

 prepared, in the absence of the requisite experiments, 

 to say; but it is certainly to be regretted that such have 

 not been made, and that, in Ueu of it, paupers were 

 employed in Suffolk and Essex to collect them and to 

 burn them. In the East, various species of Mylahris 

 and Liftta seem equally well known to possess, and 

 are used for similar purposes. We may here, again, 

 further remark, that almost the whole of this family is 

 excessively prolific in the produce of individuals; for, 

 of the majority, in their proper season, their peculiar 

 habitats literally swarm with them. In this sub-family 

 we observe very many striking structural peculiarities, 

 notwithstanding a tolerably general uniformity of ap- 

 pearance, excepting only in a few instances. Thus, 

 in this type, we have moniliform antennse ; in Ht/' 

 ckus, Mijlahris, Sec, these organs are considerably 

 enlarged at their apex, differing generally in the num- 

 ber of their joints. CEnas has them fusiform ; and 

 in Lytta they are attenuated towards their apex. They 

 are all more or less peculiar for the structure of the 

 claws of their tarsi : thus, in Lydus these are strongly 

 serrated beneath, and in Tetraonyx they are bifid, 

 as well also in other genera, and particularly so in 

 MeloS, which presents, perhaps, the greatest divergence 

 from typical characters, if we except only some apterous 

 females, of any insects throughout the Coleoptera. They 

 are soft, swollen insects, apterous, but having abbre- 

 viated elytra, which are rounded at their extremity, and 

 lap over each other. They possess the property of 

 exuding, when captured, a yellow, oleaginous liquid, 

 which stains the fingers, and has a somewhat foetid or 

 faint smell, not unlike that ejected by Coccinella; 

 whereas that of Timarcha, among the Chrysomelid<e, is 

 of a sanguin-ous hue, and more watery and profuse. 

 Much obscurity still envelopes the natural history of the 

 Meloe : it has been assumed that those little Pediculi, 

 found so frequently upon many species of bees, espe- 

 cially Andrence, whence Mr. Kirby gave them a specific 





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