266 INSECTA. 



larva resembles a Worm, having a scaly head, a mouth analo- 

 gous to that of the perfect Insect in the number of its parts, 

 and usually six feet. Some few species are destitute of them 

 or have merely simple mammillae. 



The pupa is inactive and takes no nourishment. The ha- 

 bitations, mode of life, and other habits of these Insects, in 

 both states, greatly vary. 



I divide this order into four sections, according to the num- 

 ber of joints in the tarsi. 



The first comprises the Pextamera, or those in which all 

 the tarsi consist of five joints, and is composed of six families, 

 the two first of which are distinguished from the others by a 

 double excremental apparatus(l). 



FAMILY I. 

 CARNIV0RA(2). 



Two palpi to each maxilla, or six in all; antennae almost 

 always filiform or setaceous, and simple. 



The maxilljB are terminated by a scaly hook or claw, and 

 the interior side is furnished with cilia or little spines. The 

 ligula is fixed in an emargination of the mentum. The two 

 anterior legs are inserted on the sides of a compressed ster- 

 num, and placed on a large patella; the two posterior have a 

 stout trochanter at their origin ; their first joint is large, ap- 

 pears to be confounded with the post-pectus, and forms a cur- 

 vilinear triangle, with the exterior side excavated. 



These Insects pursue and devour others. Several have 



(1) According' to M. Dufour the Silphae, a g-cnus of our fourth family, also pre- 

 sent one; it is unique, however, or but on one side. 



(2) Cm-nassiers, Guv. — Jdephage, Clairv. This family, which is one of the 

 largest of the Coleoptera, already illustrated by the labours of Weber, Clairville, 

 and IJonelli, with respect to the method, will finall3'^l3e reduced to order, as re- 

 gards the species, if Count Dejean continue his "Species des Coleop teres," four 

 volumes of which are now published, a work remarkable for the exactness of its 

 descriptions. 



