COLEOPTERA. 359 



quadrilateral ; joints of the tarsi entire, and the hooks of the 

 last one unidentated or bordered with a membrane. The an- 

 tennae are usually serrated, and; in the males of some species, 

 even pectinated. 



Most of them are very active, and ar^ found on flowers and 

 leaves. 



This tribe, which is a mere division of the genera Cantha- 

 ris and Dermestes of Linnaeus, will form the genus 



Melyris, Fab. 



In some, the palpi are of equal thickness throughout. 



Here, under each anterior angle of the thorax, and on .each side of 

 the base of the abdomen, we observe a retractile, dilatable vesicle in 

 the form of a cockade, which is protruded by the animal when alarm- 

 ed, and whose use is unknown. The body is shorter in proportion 

 than in the following subgenus, wider and more depressed; the tho- 

 rax wider than it is long. Under each crotchet, at the end of the 

 tarsi, is a membranous appendage resembling a tooth. 



Malachius, Fab. Oliv. — Cantharis, Lin. 



One of the sexes, in each species, furnished with an appendage in 

 the form of a hook, at the extremity of each elytron, which is seized 

 from behind by an individual of the opposite sex, with its mandibles, 

 in order to arrest the former when it attempts to escape, or moves 

 too rapidly. The first joints of the antennae are frequently dilated 

 and irregular in the males. They are all prettily coloured. 



M. seneus; Cantharis xnea, L.; Panz., lb.; X, 2. Three lines 

 in length; glossy green; margin of the elytra red; head, yellow 

 anteriorly. 



M. bipustulatus; Cantharis hipustulata, L.; Panz. lb., 3. Ra- 

 ther smaller, and of a glossy green; extremity of the elytra 

 red(l). 

 Among the following Melyrides with filiform palpi, and whose 

 thorax and abdomen are destitute of retractile vesicles, we will first 

 place those the length of Avhose antennae at least equals that of the 

 head and thorax, in which the body is generally straight, elongated, 

 and sometimes linear, and the hpoks of the tarsi are usually, as in 

 Malachius, bordered inferiorly by a membranous appendage. 



(1) See op, cit. and Schoenh.,»Synon. Insect., II, p. 67. 



