COLEOPTERA, 445 
domicil in the country, in old wood, and under stones; their habits 
are the same. 
Such are the characters of the genus 
Ptinus, Lin . 
In some, the head and thorax, or the anterior half of the body, is 
narrower than the abdomen ; the antennae are always terminated in 
the same manner, simple or but slightly serrated, and at least almost 
as long as the body. 
Ptinus, Lin., Fab , — Bruchus, Geoff. 
The antennae of the true Ptini are inserted between the eyes, which 
are protuberant or convex. Their body is oblong. 
They are generally found in houses, and chiefly in granaries and 
inhabited places. Their larvae destroy our herbaria and desiccated 
specimens of animals. The antennae of the males are longer than 
those of the females, and, in several species, these latter are apterous. 
P. fur, L., Fab. ; P. latro, striatus, F. ; Oliv. Col. 11, 17, i. 1 , 
3; ii, 9, var. of the male. One line and a half in length; light 
brown; antennae as long as the body ; a pointed projection on 
each side of the thorax, and between them two others, rounded 
and covered with a yellowish down : two transverse, greyish 
bands on the elytra, formed by hairs. 
According to De Geer, it feeds on Flies and other dead In- 
sects that fall in its way. The larvae are very injurious to her- 
baria and other collections of natural history. 
P. imperialis. Fab.; Oliv., Ib., 1,4. Remarkable for two 
spots on the elytra, which, together, form a rude figure of a 
two-headed Eagle. On old wood *. 
I have frequently found on fecal matters, the P. germain, 
Lat. Gener. Crust, et Insect., I, p. 279, which is closely allied to 
the P. fur f. 
Gibbium, Scop . — Ptinus, Fab. Oliv. 
The antennae inserted before the eyes, which are flattened and very 
small; scutellum wanting or indistinct; the body short; abdomen 
very large, turgid, almost globular and semidiaphanous ; the antennae 
smaller at the extremity, and the elytra soldered. These Insects 
also reside in our herbaria, &c. J. 
In the others, the body is oval, ovoid, or nearly cylindrical ; the 
* It appears to me that this species belongs to the genus Hedobia of the 
Catalogue of Dejean. It differs from Ptinus in the antenna?, which are more 
remote from each other, and slightly serrated, and particularly in the tarsi which are 
short and composed of wide and almost cordiform joints, the last one particularly ; 
the hooks of the latter are almost always concealed. In Ptinus these tarsi are 
straight; and their last joint resembles a reversed cone. The antenna? are approxi- 
mated at base. 
•f For the sjnonymes of the species of this genus, see Schoenh., Synon. Insect. 
II, 106. 
J Ptinus scoiias, Fab. ; Oliv., Col. Ib. I, 2 ; Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ., V, 8 ; 
— P. sulcafus, Fab. 
