462 
INSECTA. 
distinct joints, and the palpi are filiform or gradually enlarge, we will 
first separate those whose antennae are not received into particular 
fossulae in the under part of the thorax. The praesternum rarely ex- 
tends over the mouth ~ 
In some, the antennae terminate abruptly in a large perfoliaceous 
triarticulated club. 
Dermestes, Lin., Geoff., Fab. 
In Dermestes, properly so called, the antennae are similar, or differ 
but very slightly in both sexes ; the length of the last joint is never 
much greater than that of the preceding ones. 
Certain species do great injuiy among furs, and devastate our col- 
lections of natural history. De Geer calls them dessectors, and in 
fact the Dermestes lardarius cuts to pieces the Insects of the cabinet 
into which it has penetrated. The others devour the dead bodies of 
all kinds of animals. 
D. lardarius, L. ; Oliv., Col., II, 9, 1, 1. Black ; base of the 
elytra cinereous and dotted with black. The larva is elongated, 
insensibly tapered from head to tail, of a chesnut-brown above, 
white beneath, furnished with long hairs and two squamous 
horns on the last annulus. Its excrements resemble long 
threads f. 
Megatoma, Herbst., Lin., Geoff., Fab. 
The Megatomae only differ from Dermestes in the club of their 
antenm, which is much more elongated in the males than in the 
females ; the terminal joint is lanceolate or forms an elongated tri- 
angle. 
M.pellio; Dermestes peUio,\ji. ; Oliv., Ib., II. ii. But two 
lines and a half in length ; black ; three white dots on the thorax, 
and one on each elytron, formed by down. The larva is greatly 
elongated, of a glossy reddish-brown, and covered with reddish 
hairs, those of the posterior extremity forming a tail. It moves 
by sliding, and as if by jerks, which is also the case with the per- 
fect Insect, and the Dermestes 
In others, such as 
Limnichus, Zieg., Dej., 
The antennae become gradually thicker, and terminate in a larger 
and ovid joint ; they are granose, and received under the anterior 
angles of the thorax. The maxillae are terminated by two lobes, the 
* The only exceptions are found in the Dermestes undattts (Megatoma) of Fabri- 
cius, and the Limnichi, Ziegl. 
t Add D. vulpinus, rnurinus, affinis, laniarius, tasselatus, irifasciatus, Gyll., Insect. 
Suec., I, p. 145, et seq. 
J Add the Dermestes megatoma, Fab., of which his macellarius appears to be the 
female ; — D. emarginatus, Gyll. ; — D, mdatus, Fab. The prsesternum ia this latter 
species projects over the mouth. 
