ORDER COLEOPTERA. 323 



The first (Cebrionites), thus named from the genus 

 Cebrio, of Olivier, to which the others are attached, has the 

 mandibles terminated in a simple or entire point, the palpi of 

 the same thickness, or more slender at their extremity, the body 

 rounded and gibbous, in some oval or oblong, but arched 

 above, and inclined underneath in others. It is most fre- 

 quently soft and flexible, with the corslet transverse, broader 

 at its base, and its lateral angles sharp, or even prolonged in 

 many species, in the form of a spine. The antennae are 

 usually longer than the head and corslet. The feet are not 

 contractile. 



Their habits are unknown. Many sojourn on plants, and 

 in aquatic situations. These insects may be united into a 

 single genus, that of 



Cebrio, Oliv. Fab. 



Some, establishing a connection of this tribe with the pre- 

 ceding, whose consistence is even equally solid with that of 

 Sternoxus, whose feet are never adapted for jumping, and 

 whose body is generally an oblong oval, with the antennae 

 either pectinate or serrated in the males, the palpi filiform, or 

 a little thicker at their extremity, and the posterior angles of 

 the corslet prolonged into a sharp point, present us with 

 mandibles advancing beyond the labrum, narrow and greatly 

 arched, or in the form of crotchets. The labrum is usually 

 very short, emarginated or bilobate. 



In others, as well as in the elaterides, the praesternum ter- 

 minates posteriorly in a point received in a depression of the 

 mesosternum. 



The antennae, long in the males of some species, are com- 

 posed of eleven articulations, pectinate or serrated. The last 

 articulation of the palpi is almost cylindrical, or in the form 

 of an inverted cone. 



Y 2 



