8 MANDIBULATA. COLEOPTERA. 



Sp. 2. linearis. Niger, glaber, antennis pedibusque rufo-piceis, thorace postice 



in medio impresso.— {Long. corp. 2^— 3| lin.) 

 Co. linearis. Fabricius. — Steph. Catal. 148. No. 1491. 



Elongate^ narrow, black, glabrous : head punctured, with the crown smooth : 

 thorax somewhat coarctate in front, and transversely impressed, with an 

 obsolete impression in the middle of the base, the disc somewhat thickly and 

 moderately punctate, with a rudimentary dorsal carina : elytra Unear, inclining 

 to castaneous, deeply punctate-striated, the interstices elevated, smooth : an- 

 tennae and legs rufo-piceous. 



Var. /3. Co. elongatus. Steph. Catal. 148. No. 1492. Of a more elongate form 

 and paler hue : probably immature. 



Also a local insect: it lias been taken in boleti in Battersea- 

 fields, and in Somersetshire, out of an old tree. Var. /3. I re- 

 ceived from Mr. Sim's collection; it was fouud near Epping. " Ful- 

 ham, in profusion, in July, 1826." — N. A. Vigors, Esq. " Taken 

 several years ago near Swansea, and is far from common." — L. W. 

 Dillwyn, Esq. 



Genus CCLXXIIL — Calandra, Clairville. 



AntenncB geniculated, 9-jointed, inserted near the base of the rostrum, the funi- 

 culus composed of six short, subcoarctate, truncate joints, the club biarticulate, 

 elongate-subovate, subacuminate. Rostrum elongate, rounded, slightly de- 

 flexed, and a little bent: thorax elongate, narrowed in front, depressed: the 

 base and apex truncate.: elytra shorter than the abdomen : body subdepressed : 

 legs rather short ; tibice armed with an acute spur : tarsi reflexed, the penul- 

 timate joint slightly bilobed. 



"Without noticing other characters, the distinctly abbreviated 

 elytra, combined with the 9-jointed antennae, will at once enable 

 any one to distinguish the present genus from the others of this 

 extensive family. 



The Calandrse in their larva state are exceedingly destructive to 

 the produce of the agriculturist; whole granaries being sometimes 

 laid waste by them : the female imago lays a single egg in each 

 grain, and the larva, when hatched, subsists entirely upon the 

 interior or farinaceous portion of the grain, leaving the husk un- 

 touched, and undergoing its transformation to a pupa within, when 

 the grain appears uninjured ; but the defective corn may be dis- 

 covered by throwing the suspected portion into water, when that 

 which contains the Calandra floats. Ants are said to destroy them. 



