COLEOPTERA. 511 



great injury to the Olive, and some again feed on Mushrooms. 

 We will divide this family into three sections. 



1. Those in which the antennae are composed of ten joints 

 at most, sometimes terminating in a stout club, most commonly 

 solid, and sometimes consisting of three elongated leaflets ; and 

 at others forming a cylindrical and perfoliate club from their 

 base, and in which the palpi are conical.- The anterior legs 

 of the greater number are dentated and armed with a stout 

 hook, and the tarsi, of which the penultimate joint is fre- 

 quently cordiform or bilobate, are susceptible of being flexed 

 on them. 



Some have very small palpi, the body convex and rounded above, 

 or almost ovoid, the head globular and plunged into the thorax, and 

 the antennae solid or trilamellate, and preceded by five joints at least. 



These Xylophagi form the genus 



ScoLYTus, Geoif. 

 Confounded by Linnaeus with the Dermestes. 



Sometimes the penultimate joint of the tarsi is bilobate, and there 

 are seven or eight joints in the antennae anterior to the club. In 



Hylurgus, Lat. — Hylesinus, Fab. 



The club of the antennae is solid, almost globular, obtuse, not at 

 all or but slightly compressed, and annulated transversely; the body 

 is almost cylindrical(l). 



Hylesinus, Fab. 



Where the club of the antennae is also terminated in a solid club, 

 but slightly or not at all compressed, and annulated transversely, but 

 tapering to a point. The body is almost ovoid(2). 



In the two following subgenera this club is still solid, but strongly 

 compressed; its inferior joints form concentric curves. In 



ScoLYTUs, Geoff. — Hylesinus, Fab. — Eccoptogaster, Herbst. Gyllenh. 



Or Scolytus properly so called, the antennae are straight, beard- 

 less, and inserted close to the inner margin of the eyes, which are 

 narrow, elongated, and vertical(3). 



(1) Lat., Gener. Crust, et Insect., 11, p. 274; Gyll., Insect., Suec, IV, p. 618. 



(2) Lat, lb., p. 279. 



(3) Lat., lb., p. 278; Gyll., Insect. Suec, III, p. 215, and IV, p. 279. 



