ORDER COLEOPTERA. 391 



and solid, and formed by the last four articulations. The 

 second is larger than the following. The body is almost 

 squared, with the elytra truncated, the legs denticulated, the 

 tarsi simple, the mandibles bidenticulated at the internal side, 

 and the last articulation of the maxillary palpi as long as 

 the preceding two united. The jaws have a corneous tooth 

 at the internal edge. These insects very much resemble 

 Hister, so much so that Fabricius lias confounded them with 

 that genus. Such are, 



Sph.erites, Dufst. Sarapus, Fisch. Hister, Fab. Niti- 

 dula, Gyll.* 



In those the antennas are terminated in a perfoliate knob. 



Sometimes the body is oblong, with the head strangulate 

 posteriorly, as broad, or but little narrower than the anterior 

 edge of the corslet. This part is in the form of a square 

 rounded at the angles. The elytra are in a long square, 

 abruptly and strongly truncated at their posterior extremity. 

 The hinder thighs, at least in the males, are usually inflated. 

 The last articulation of the maxillary palpi is a little more 

 slender than the preceding, almost cylindrical, a little 

 attenuated towards the end, and obtuse. The anterior tarsi 

 are dilated in the males. 



Necrophorus, Fab, Silpha, Lin. Dermestes, Geoff. 



The antennae, but little longer than the head, are termi- 

 nated abruptly, in an almost globular knob of four articu- 

 lations ; the first is long, and the second much shorter than 

 the following. The body is almost parallelipiped, witli the 

 corslet broader in front, all the legs strong, widened at their 



* Dufst. Faun. Aust. I. p. 206 ; Hister glabratus, Fab. Sturm. I. xx. 

 Saraj)us, Fisch. Mem. de la Soc. des Natur. Moscow. 



