456 
IXSECTA. 
the stems of Wheat, where they find little Helices, on which they 
feed. Others remain on high trees and devour caterpillars. The 
larvae are all equally active, live in the same manner, and frequently 
in large societies. They bear a great resemblance to the perfect In- 
sect. Their body is flattened, and consists of twelve segments, with 
acute posterior angles ; the posterior extremity is narrower and ter- 
minated by two conical appendages. 
In most of the species, the two anterior tarsi of the males ar’e alone 
more dilated than the others. The antennae insensibly enlarge or 
terminate abruptly in a club of four joints at most, the second and 
third of which differ but little ; the last joint of the maxillary palpi 
is, at most, as long as the penultimate, and frequently somewhat 
shorter and more slender. 
Those species in which the extremity of the antennae is distinctly 
perfoliaceous or composed of joints, which, the last excepted, are 
wider than they are long, Avhere this club is abrupt, and the elytra are 
emarginated at their extremity, at least in the males, form the genus 
Thanatophilus, Leach*. 
Those, in which the elytra are entire, but where the antennae are 
similar to those of the preceding, constitute his Oiceptoma. 
S. ihoracica, L. ; Fab.; Oliv., Col. II, II, i, 3, a, b. Black; 
thorax red and silky ; three flexuous elevated lines on each ely- 
tron, the exterior shortest, forming a carina, and terminating 
near a transverse tubercle; posterior extremity of the elytra, in 
the males, terminating in a point at the suture. In the woods 
particularly. 
S. qiiadripunctata, L, ; Fab.; Oliv., Ib. I, 7> a, b. Black; 
margin of the thorax and elytra yellowish, each of the latter 
with two black dots, one at base and the other in the middle. 
Peculiar to forests, but usually remains on young Oaks, where it 
feeds on caterpillars f. 
Those in which the extremity of the antennae is likewise perfo- 
liaceous, but where the club is formed gradually, according to Leach, 
alone retain the generic appellation of Si/pha. They are usually 
found in fields, along the roads, &c. 
5. leevigata, Fab.; Oliv., Ib. I, i, a, b. Shining black ; mul- 
tipunctured ; thorax much narrower than before ; elytra with- 
out elevated lines. 
•S', obscura, L. ; Fab.; Oliv., Ib., II, 18. Dusky black; tho- 
rax truncated anteriorly ; elytra more deeply punctured ; three 
raised but slightly salient and short lines, the intermediate the 
longest, on each of the latter. 
S. reticulata, h. •, Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ., V, 9. Opaque 
black ; thorax truncated before ; three raised lines on each ely- 
tron, the exterior largest and forming a carina, terminated by a 
tubercle, with transverse rugae in the intervals |. 
* Silpha sinuata, Fab.; Oliv., Ib., II, 12 ; — S. dispar, Illig:., Gyllenh., &c. 
■t Add, S. rugosa, Fab. ; Oliv., II, Ib., 1 7 ; — S, laponica, Fab. 
X Add, S. opaca, Fab.; Herbst., Col., LI, 16 ; — S, trisiis, lUig., &c. 
