NITIDUL1D7E. NITIDULA. 31 



Genus CXXIX. — Thymalus, Latreille. 



Antenna; rather short, the basal joint elongate, clavate, third and fourth joints 

 equal, gradually thickened to the extremity, the three last joints forming an 

 elongate, compressed, perfoliate club, with the terminal joint orbicular : palpi 

 subclavate ; terminal joint subovate : head very small, concealed by the an- 

 terior margin of the thorax; which is slightly emarginate, the posterior 

 truncate, and the sides broadly margined and depressed : elytra large, entire, 

 subovate, pubescent, deeply margined on the sides, covering the abdomen : 

 body convex, subhemispheric : legs short, simple : tarsi pentamerous, simple. 



This genus serves beautifully to unite the Nitidulidse with the 

 preceding- family, to the last genus of which it is so closely allied 

 that most writers have hitherto included them under one name ; 

 but from Peltis, Thymalus differs by its convex, subhemispheric 

 form, shorter antennse, with its club more coarctate, and dissimilar 

 habit, which is so analogous to that of a Cassida, that several authors 

 have placed the only known species in that genus. 



Sp. 1. limbatus. JEneo-brunnea, pubescens, limbo sanguineo, elytris punctato- 

 striatis. (Long. covp. 2^ — 3 lin.) 



Cassida limbata. Fabricius. — Th. limbatus. Curtis, i. pi. 39. Steph. Catal. 

 97. No. 824. 



Brassy-brown, pubescent; head ferruginous, punctured; eyes black; thorax rufo- 

 ferruginous, finely and thickly punctate, with the disc somewhat convex 

 behind, and glossed with aereous; elytra broader than the thorax, very 

 convex, deeply, coarsely, and somewhat irregularly punctate-striate, the 

 margin obscure sanguineous, or rufo-ferruginous ; body with legs and an- 

 tennae ferruginous ; the former punctured. 



Discovered several years since in some abundance in the New- 

 forest, by Mr. D. Bydder, and since observed in the same neigh- 

 bourhood by others. " Near Westerham, in Kent, on a flower." — 

 Mr. Ingpen. " Leeds, by Mr. Denny, who took several." — A. H. 

 Davis, Esq. " Under the bark of an oak near Danygraig, by 

 Mr. Millard, and also under bark in dive-wood. - " — L. W. Dillzcyn, 

 Esq. 



Genus CXXX. — Nitidula Auctorum. 



Antennas very short, the basal joint orbicular, dilated, the third longer than the 

 fourth, the apex terminating in a large, abrupt, broad, coarctate, perfoliate, 

 three-jointed club : palpi nearly equal, short, filiform : head small, inserted up 



