TENEBRIONID.B. DIAtERIS. 13 



series from my friend C. C. Babington, Esq. who finds them " in the 

 decayed floor of a malt-house at Cambridge in abundance." 



Genus CCCCXXX.— Diaperis, Geoffroy. 



AntenncB short, compressed. 11-jointed, three basal joints slender, the fourth 

 to the tenth broad, transverse, perfoliate, the eleventh suborbicular-ovate. 

 Palpi subfiliform, the terminal joint of the maxUlary elongate, subfusiform, 

 or obtrigonate, sometimes oval, truncated obliquely : mandibles slightly 

 bifid at the apex : mentum suborbicular : head small, deflexed, rounded : 

 thorax transverse, convex, narrowed anteriorly, produced in the middle 

 behind : body glabrous, convex, somewhat hemispherical : wings ample : 

 legs elongate, compressed ; tibicB with small spurs at the apex, the poste- 

 rior serrated externally ; tarsi heteromerous, with simple joints. 



The peculiar structure of the antennae of Diaperis will readily 

 enable the student to discriminate it from the other genera of this 

 family, to which in habit it is but slightly allied ; in fact, it may per- 

 haps with propriety form the type of a distinct family, its general 

 structure being manifestly unlike that of the typical Tenebrionidse ; 

 and the dissimilarity of the contents of the genus is another remark- 

 able feature ; in the two first species the terminal joint of the maxil- 

 lary palpi is elongated, and in the others short, obtrigonate in 

 D. violacea, and truncate in the remaining species, each section being 

 also distinguished by dissimilarity of colouring : in fact, they probably 

 form the types of three subgenera. 



Sp. 1. Boleti. Gibba ovata, nigra nitida, elytris fasciis duabus undulato-den- 

 taiis, maculdque apicis jiavis. (Long. corp. 3 — 4 lin.) 



Ch. Boleti. Linnc.—Di. Boleti. Steph. Catal. 24.2. No. 2420 — Curtis, 

 viii. pi. 358. 



Gibbous, ovate, shining black: mouth piceous : front depressed, punctured: 

 thorax slightly produced in the middle behind, the disc convex, finely 

 punctured and immaculate : elytra somewhat acuminated at the apex, the 

 disc finely punctate-striate, with the interstices sparingly punctured ; black, 

 with a broad yellow fascia at the base, sinuate-dentate behind, a second nar- 

 rower one in the middle, not touching the suture, and a small triangular spot 

 of similar hue within the apex : antennae and legs black: tarsi rufo-piceous. 



Slightly variable in the breadth of the yellow fasciae on the elytra; the medial 

 one is sometimes interrupted; and the spot at the apex wanting. 



This rare species has been occasionally met with in abundance. 

 Mr. Kirby told me that he once found a considerable number on a 



