SALTATORIAL POWERS OF INSECTS. 291 



acute mandibles, &c., and by the property the Hving insect 

 possesses of leaping considerably." Mr. Stephens might indeed 

 have added, that the latter statement was made from personal 

 observation, the loss of the specimen of Choragus Shepiiardi, 

 which he mentions, being attributable to the insect's power of 

 leaping. 



Mr. Curtis places the genus between the Clerida; and the 

 genus Cis. 



My friend, M. Guerin, has figured an insect in the sixteenth 

 entomological plate of his " Magazin de Zoologie," under the 

 names oCAnthrihus pygmceus of Robert; upon reading the 

 description of which, together with the statement of its leaping 

 powers, it immediately struck me that it was the Choragus, 

 and that the affinity thus indicated by the French entomologist, 

 was far more natural than any of those of our English authors. 

 From the figure and description of this insect, the body is 

 cylindric, and the antennee and clypeus being exactly as in 

 Choragus, the apparently penultimate joint of the tarsi is how- 

 ever represented as bilobed in all the legs ; so that it would 

 thence appear that they are formed upon the same type as 

 those of the Bruchidce and Anthrihida;, and indeed of all the 

 subtetramerous ^ Coleoptera ; a variation however seems to 

 exist in the number of joints of the tarsi, which is probably an 

 oversight, owing to the minuteness of the insect. 



J. O. Westwood. 

 The Grove, Hammersmith. 

 Jan. 23, 1833. 



P. S. Since my notes upon this genus were penned, 

 M. Guerin has kindly forwarded me a set of the plates of the 

 Mag. Zool. ; and upon that of the Anthribus pygnKjeus, is the 

 following pencil note : — " J'a'i reconnu depuis que cest le 

 Choragus Schepardii de M. Kirby, G." 



a I have emplc^ed the term Suhtetramera to designate the Tetramera of 

 Latreille, considering that, although the latter denomination may not, as insisted 

 upon by Mr. MacLeay, be grammatically correct, (in consequence of the insects 

 having in reality five joints in the tarsi), yet the peculiar structure of the feet in 

 this section is sufficiently distinct to warrant their separation as a natural group 

 from tlie other pentamcrous beetles. 



