COLEOPTERA. 375 



The legs of the other Clavieornes are inserted at an equal 

 distance from each other. Those in which these organs are 

 not contractile, and the tarsi at most can only be flexed on the 

 tibiae, whose mandibles are most commonly salient and flatten- 

 ed or not thick, and whose prsesternum is never dilated ante- 

 riorly, will constitute five other tribes. 



Ill the third tribe of this family, that of the Silphales, we 

 find five distinct joints in all the tarsi, and the mandibles ter- 

 minating in an entire point without emarginaticn orfissure(l). 

 The antennae terminate in a club that is most commonly per- 

 foliaceous and consisting of from four to five joints. The in- 

 ternal side of the maxillae, in most of them, is furnished with 

 a horny tooth. The anterior tarsi are frequently dilated, at 

 least in the males. The exterior margin of the elytra of the 

 greater number is marked by a groove with a well raised 

 border. 



This tribe is composed of the genus 



SiLPHA, Lin. — Peltis, Geoff*. 



Here the antennae arc suddenly terminated by a short and solid club, 

 formed by the four last joints; the second is larger than the follow- 

 ing ones. The body is almost square, the elytra are truncated, the 

 tibiae dentated, the tarsi simple, and the mandibles bidentated on the 

 inner side; the last joint of the maxillary palpi is as long as the two 

 preceding ones taken together. There is a horny tooth on the inner 

 side of the maxillae. So closely do these Insects resemble the His- 

 teroides, that Fabricius confounded them. Such are those which 

 form the 



Sph^rites, Dufts. — Sarapus,¥i?,ch. — Hister, Fab Nitidula, Gyl- 



len.(2) 



Here, the antennae terminate in a perfoliaceous club. 



striatus, Payk., lb., XI, 1; — H. sulcatus, X, 8; — the hispidus, Id., XI, 2, appears to 

 be congeneric. The genus Ceutocerus of Germar, Insect. Spec. Nov., I, p. 85, 1, 

 2, from the form of the antenna:, legs, &c., would naturally seem to come after the 

 Histeroides, but .the elytra cover the abdomen and the mandibles are not salient. 

 I have never seen a specimen of this genus. 



(1) Dentations however are sometimes found on the internal side, as in Sphae- 

 rites. 



(2) Dufts., Faun. Aust., I, p. 206; Hister glabratus. Fab.; Sturm,!, xx; Serapus, 

 Fisch., Mem. of the Soc of Nat of Moscow. 



