ORD'ER COLEOPTERA. 339 



Malthinus, Lat. Schcenh. Necydalis, GeofF. 



The palpi of which are terminated by an ovoid articula- 

 tion. 



The head is narrowed behind ; the cases are shorter in the 

 abdomen in many of them. 



On plants, and particularly on trees. (Lat. Gen. Crust, et 

 Insect, I. 261. Schoenh. Synon. Insect. II. p. 73. The tel- 

 lephori, biguttatus and nmiimus of Olivier, are of this 

 genus. 



The third tribe of Malacodermi, the Melyrides, ex- 

 hibits palpi, most frequently filiform and short ; mandibles 

 emarginated at the point ; a body most frequently narrow 

 and elongated, with the head alone covered at its base, by a 

 flat, or but triflingly convex corslet, usually square, or 

 quadrilaterally elongated, and the articulations of the tarsi 

 entire. The crotchets of the last are unindentated, or bor- 

 dered by a membrane. The antennae are usually serrated, 

 and even pectinated in the males of some species. 



The majority are very agile, and are found on flowers and 

 leaves. 



This tribe, which is only a dismemberment of the genera 

 Cantharis and Dermestes of Linnaeus, will compose that of 



Melyris, Fab. 



Some have the palpi of the same thickness throughout. 



Here we discover under each anterior angle of the corslet, 

 and on each side of the base of the abdomen, a vesicle in the 

 form of a horn or cockade, retractile and susceptible of dila- 

 tation, which the animal causes to issue forth when it is 

 frightened, and the use of which is unknown. The body is 

 proportionally shorter than in the following sub-genus, broader 

 and more depressed, with the corslet broader than long. 



z 2 



