2)ERMESTES^ 36J 



Genus III Dermejles, 



Vv E are now come to a tribe of beetles, much inferior 

 in fize to thofe already mentioned ; but of fuperior beau- 

 ty. Many of the infe£ls belonging to this genus exhibit 

 a variety of the richeft colouring that flows even from 

 nature's pencil. They are near neighbours of man, and 

 often troublefome companions : One fpecies of the larda- 

 rius is deftruftive to meat, and is very difficult to pre- 

 vent from entering into the repofitories of the cook. It 

 is a ftill more unwelcome intruder into the cabinets of 

 the curious ; being very deflruftive to birds, infe£ls, and 

 other fubje£i;s of natural hiftory, in a ftate of preferva- 

 tion. Arfenic is the moil certain preventative againil its 

 depredations there. Many fpecies of this family, as well 

 as their larvae, inhabit dried fkins, the bark of trees, rot- 

 ten wood, feeds, flowers, and the carcafes of dead ani- 

 mals. 



The antennae of the infers of this tribe principally ex- 

 hibit their generic charafters. They terminate in a per- 

 foliated club of an oval form, and divided into different 

 plates or leaves, which feem to be united together by a 

 fmall llalk. The thorax is of a convex form, and flight- 

 3y margined : the head is bent inward, and, as it were*^ 

 concealed in the thorax *, 



* Syftema Nat. p. j6r. 



