COLEOPTERA. 275 



The thorax is always in the form of a truncated heart. The exte- 

 rior palpi are never terminated by a much larger and securiform 

 joint.* The two anterior tarsi of the males are not dilated, or if so, 

 but very slightlyj the penultimate joint of these and the other tarsi 

 is never deeply bilobate. 



The three following subgenera have a common negative character: 

 that of being destitute of wings. 



Anthia, Web. Fab. 



An oval, horny ligula, advancing between the palpi nearly to 

 their extremity. 



The labrum frequently large and dentated or angular. 



The exterior palpi filiform^ the last joint almost cylindrical or 

 forming a reversed and elongated cone. No tooth in the emargina- 

 tion of the mentum. The abdomen oval, and most frequently con- 

 vexj elytra almost entire, or but slightly truncated. 



These Insects, as well as those of the ensuing subgenus, have a 

 black body spotted with white, a colour formed by down; they inha- 

 bit the deserts and similar localities of Africa(l) and some parts of 

 Asia. According to the late M. Leschenault de Latbur, the Anthiae, 

 when irritated, discharge a caustic fluid from the anus. The spe- 

 cies generally are large, and in the males of some the thorax is 

 more or less dilated posteriorly and terminates by two lobes(2). 



Graphipterus, Lat. — Anthia^ Fab. 



The Graphipteri were formerly confounded with the Anthiae, but 

 differ from them in their ligula, which, the middle part excepted, is 

 entirely membranous; and in their compressed.antennae, whose third 

 joint is mucft longer than the others. Besides this, their abdomen 

 is always flattened and orbicular, and one of the two spines termi- 

 nating the posterior tibiae is always laminiform and much longer 

 than the other. 



The species of this subgenus are exclusively proper to Africa, 

 and smaller than the preceding(3). 



(1 ) Although several Insects of the north of Africa have been discovered in the 

 south of Spain and Italy, not a solitary species of Anthia or Graphipterus has ever 

 been found there. 



(2; See Hist. Nat. des Coleop. d'Eur., fascic. II; the Species des Coleop., Dej., 

 I; the excellent Synonymialnsectorum of Schoenherr; and the zoological portion 

 of the "Voy. de Caillaud, where I have described and figured the Insects collected 

 by him in Africa. 



(3) See Hist. Nat. Coleop. d'Eur., fascic. II, and the Species des Coleop., I, 



