DERMESTIDiE. DERMESTES. 121 



Th. obtusus. Westwood MSS. — Curtis, iv. pi. 163. Steph. Catal. 95. No. 

 1010. 



Ovate, dull castaneous, shining, clothed with short decumbent yellowish hairs : 

 head rounded, coarsely punctured : eyes black : thorax anteriorly entire, 

 coarsely punctured, the base trilobed, the disc rather convex, slightly elevated 

 before the scutellum: elytra slightly convex, striated, the interstices mi- 

 nutely punctured : antennae and legs ferruginous ; tarsi paler. 



In June, 1827, I captured a single example of this species in a 

 lane near Ripley : the insect had been previously taken in other 

 parts of the metropolitan district, and it has also been found subse- 

 quently. " Several specimens taken from a pollard oak in Plaistow 

 Marshes, in 1827 and 1828." — A. Cooper, Esq. " Two specimens 

 beaten out of an oak near Ensham, in Oxford, in September." — 

 Mr. Westwood. " Moss, Highgate-wood, in the winter. 1- ' — Mr. 

 Ingpen. 



Genus CLXX. — Dermestes Auctorum. 



Antennae shorter than the thorax, the basal joint large, ovate; the seven follow- 

 ing joints rather slender, short; the remainder forming a large, ovate, Par- 

 ticulate compressed club, dilated interiorly, the basal joints of which are 

 somewhat transverse, tbe terminal short suborbiculate. Palpi filiform, 

 stout ; the maxillary shorter than the maxillae : head small, retractile : thorax 

 rather broader than long, sinuated behind : body oblong-ovate, convex, pu- 

 bescent: elytra elongate, inclined laterally and slightly margined: legs short; 

 femora slightly incrassated; tibiae spinulose; tarsi entire, the first joint 

 shorter than the second, 



Dermestes differs from Throscus in having the antenna? shorter 

 than the thorax, with the capitulum ovate and not elongate, the 

 tarsi entire, with the first joint shorter than the second, and the 

 palpi filiform; from Megatoma and Attagenus it differs by having 

 the latter shorter than the maxillae, and the club of the antennae 

 more distinct, as well as in other less evident characters. 



The species are very destructive in museums, larders, reposi- 

 tories of skins, and similar places, especially in the larva state as 

 above mentioned. 



Sp. 1. lardarius. Oblongus, niger, elytris antice fascia lath cinereo-puhescent e, 



punctis tribus nigris. (Long. corp. 3 — 4 lin.) 

 De. lardarius. Linne.—Barbut, pi. iii. f 1. Steph. Catal. 95. No. 1015. 



Oblong, black; head thickly punctulated: with the mouth rufous: thorax 



