[ 213 ] 



XVI. 



Description of a Specks of MELOE, an htfccl 

 of the First or Coleopterous Order in the 

 Linnean Syftem : found in all Parts of Ben- 

 gal, Beiiar, and Oude ; and po/p/Jing all the 

 Properties of the Spanish bli/tering Fly, or 

 M e L o e Vefcatorius. 



By Captain Hardwicke, 

 Communicated by Mr. W. Hunter. 



ANTENX/E Moniliform, fhorr, confifting of 

 eleven articulations, increaling in iize from the 

 fecond to the apex ; the firft nearly as long as the 

 lalt ; eacli a little thicker upwards than at the bafe, 

 and truncated, or as if cut off, the laft excepted, which 

 is egg-form. 



Palpi — four, inequaled, clubbed, the pofterior pair 

 of three, and the anterior, of two articulations. 



MaxilLe or jaws — four, the exterior homey, flightly 

 curved inwards, three toothed — the two inferior teeth 

 very fmall ; the exterior pair, comprefTed and brufh- 

 like. 



Head, gibbous; eyes prominent, large, reticulated; 

 labium or upper lip, hard, emarginated. 



Thorax — convex above, broader towards the abdo- 

 men, and encompailed by a narrow marginal line. 



Ely Ira, cruftaceous, the length of the abdomen, ex- 

 cept in flies pregnant with eggs, when they are fhorter 

 by one ring ; convex above, concave beneath ; yel- 

 low, with three tranfverfe, black, irregular, undulated 

 bands; the one at the apex broader!, and that at the bafe 

 dividing the yellow longitudinally, into two fpots : 

 porcated, or ridged ; the ridges longitudinal and 



parallel, 



