COLEOPTEHA. 
457 
The antennae of some are not distinctly perfoliate at the extremity, 
the last joints being almost globular. They are the Phosphuga, Id. * 
A species from Germany, which might form a separate subgenus — 
Necrofhilus, Lat. — is removed from the preceding ones by several 
characters. It is the 
i5. subterranea, Illig., and otliers. The four anterior tarsi are 
similar and dilated at base, the two first joints, at least in the 
males, being evidently broader than the two following ones. 
The third joint of the antennae is longer than the preceding one, 
and the five last form abruptly a perfoliaceous club. The last 
joint of the maxillary palpi is as long as the two preceding ones 
taken together. 
Argyrtes, Freeh . — Mycetopiiagus, Fab. 
The body tolerably thick, convex, and arcuated superiorly, not 
scutiform ; thorax somewhat wider than long, and a little narrower 
before ; exterior margin of the elytra inclined and not canaliculated ; 
last joint of the maxillary palpi thicker and ovoid f . 
Certain Clavicornes, which seem to approach Argyrtes in their 
habits and other characters, but whose mandibles are cleft or biden- 
tated at the extremity, will compose our fifth tribe, that of the Sca- 
PHiDiTEs. Their tarsi consist of five very distinct and entire joints. 
The body is oval, narroAved at both ends, arcuated or convex above, 
and thick in the middle ; the head low, and received posteriorly into 
a trapezoidal thorax, widest behind, the margin of which is but 
slightly or not at all recurved. The antennae are usually at least as 
long as the head and thorax, and terminated in a quadriarticulated 
and elongated club. The last joint of the palpi is conical. The legs 
are elongated and slender. With the exception of some species — the 
Cholevae — the tarsi are nearly similar in both sexes. 
This tribe consists of the genus 
ScAPHIDIUM. 
ScAPHiDiuM, OHv. Fab . — Silpha, Lin. 
In the true Schaphidia, the five last joints of the antennae are almost 
globular, and compose the club. The maxillary palpi project b>it 
little, and gradually taper to a point, the penultimate joint not being 
thicker than the last at their junction. The body is navicelliform ; 
the margin of the thorax slightly recurved, and the elytra truncated. 
* 5‘. atrata, Fab. ; — S. pedemontana. Id., var. ; Oliv., Ib., I, 6. 
•f Argyrtes castaneus, Gyllen., Insect., Suec. I, iii, p. 682; Mycetophagus castaneus, 
Fab.; M. spinipes, Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ. XXIV, 20. I suspect the ..I. su/j- 
mger, Dej., is merely the female. 
