ACHETID.E. — (ECANTHUS. 41 



fond of all sorts of kitchen refuse, crumbs of bread, yeast, &c. ; also 

 of milk, broth, water, wet linen, woollen stockings, &c., in which last 

 it will frequently gnaw holes, while they are also not uncommonly 

 found drowned in vessels of beer and the like : when numerous, they 

 are very destructive, as, by means of their powerful mandibles, they 

 burrow away the mortar from between the bricks, and thus at times 

 open a communication from one house to another: although very active, 

 they rarely fly, except when they wish to change their residence : it 

 is said that they may be extirpated from situations where they are 

 troublesome by making a loud noise, or by the introduction of Ac. 

 campestris, but in this country this latter remedy cannot readily be 

 adopted, from the rarity of the insect just alluded to. 



Genus XIII.— (ECANTHUS, Serville. 



Antennw approximating at the base, setaceous^ longer than the body ; head 

 oblong-ovate, deflexed ; palpi four, terminal joint cylindric; mandibles 

 stoutish, bi- or tridentate at the apex ; ei/es oblong ; thorax somewhat 

 convex above, of an elongate-quadrate form, and a little deflexed behind ; 

 elytra incumbent, longer than the abdomen, oval, with numerous impressed 

 striae, and three distinct decussating ones ; wings rounded, without a tail ; 

 abdomen oblong, furnished at the apex, in the males, with elongate styles, 

 and in the females with a filiform ovipositor, w^hich is nearly straight, being 

 but slightly recurved at its apex ; legs long and rather slender, posterior 

 longest, the femora simple, the tarsi w^ith two rows of minute spines. 



One indigenous species only is known of this curious genus, which 

 differs from the foregoing in having the antennae approximating at 

 the base, the thorax somewhat longer; the elytra larger, and 

 exceeding the abdomen in length, the latter being oblong, and fur- 

 nished at the apex, in the females, with a very long ovipositor. 



•j-Sp. 1. Italicus. Virescente-albidus, oculis atris, elytris hyalinis, 'abdomine 

 subdiaphano. (Long. corp. 9 lin.) 



Ac. Italicus. Fahricius. — Steph. Catal. 303. No. 3351. — Aphelomera Italica. 

 Steph. Nomen. ^d edit, col. 111. 



Of a greenish- white, with black eyes ; abdomen oblong, whitish, diaphanous ; 

 elytra hyaline, somewhat yellowish towards the apex ; wings transparent 

 white ; legs also diaphanous white. 



Of this singular insect I have seen one imperfect example only, 

 which was taken by my late friend Mr. Haworth, near Halvergate in 

 Norfolk, many years since, and is now in Mr. Westwood's cabinet. 



Mandibulata, Vol. VI., 30th June, 1835. r 



