568 



SUPPLEMENT 



these last mentioned insects. The larvae of the blaps are 

 not known. It is probable that they are concealed in the 

 earth, and that they differ but little from those of Tene- 

 brio. 



The hlaps sulcata is found in Egypt, in gardens and 

 fields. Fabricius reports that the Turkish women eat this 

 insect, cooked with butter, for the purpose of making them 

 fat ; a thing which is neither true nor probable. He also 

 tells us that they use it in Egypt and the Levant, as a 

 remedy for pains and maladies in the ear, and against the 

 bite of scorpions. 



We now come to the .last tribe of the Melasoma, the Te- 



NEBRIONITES. 



The insects of the genus Tenebrio, have derived their 

 name from their sombre and almost black colour, and the 

 obscure, retired, sandy, or humid places which they frequent. 

 All the family, united at first by Linnaeus under the same 

 genus, has been successively divided into a great number of 

 others by Fabricius, and the authors who have written sub- 

 sequently to his time. What most distinguishes the tene- 

 briones, are the antennae, slightly thicker towards the end, 

 and the final articulations of which, the last of all especially, 

 are globular ; the third is elongated ; the upper lip appa- 

 rent, the last articulation of the palpi a little thicker than 

 the preceding, cylindrico- conical, and compressed ; the 

 maxillaries advanced, and the chin almost square. 



These insects have the body more or less elongated, smooth, 

 and usually of an obscure colour. Their gait is lively, and 

 they fly in general tolerably well, but rather in the evening 

 and night than in the middle of the day. They are usually 

 met with in houses, especially in garrets, kitchens, warm, or 

 little frequented places. They conceal themselves in the 

 clefts of wood furniture, or behind tapestry. Their larva 

 resembles a scaly worm. It is about an inch long, and rather 



