CANTHAR1D.E. — PROSCARAB.EUS. 65 



The indigenous species may be thus divided into genera ; 



Elytra abdomine plerumque breviora, postice late dehiscentia. Aim nullse. 



Antennce medio crassiores, distortse .... 468. Proscarab^us. 

 filiformes, aut extrorsum crassiores : . . 469. Meloe. 

 Elytra elongata, linearia, sutura recta. AtcB amplas. 



Palj)i 7)iaxiUaTes aniculo vltirao snhovato: . . 470. Cantharis. 



securiformi: . . 471. Sybaris. 



Genus CCCCLXVIII. — Proscarab.eus, Leach. 



AnUnnw distinctly incrassated in the middle, distorted in the raales^ first and 

 third joints equal, second small, globose, fourth as broad as the third, sub- 

 globose, fifth cylindric-obconic, sixth compressed, inserted in the outer 

 margin of the apex of the fifth, seventh dilated and incurved, eighth arising 

 from near the apex of the seventh, and with the two following small, sub- 

 globose, terminal one elongate-acuminate: in the female the second joint is 

 slightly pedunculated, and the five following joints are distinctly incrassate, 

 with a slight distortion between the sixth and seventh. Palpi with the 

 terminal joint slightly thickened : head vertical, broader than the thorax, 

 the latter small, subquadrate, flat on the back: eyes sublunate: scutellum 

 minute : elytra generally much shorter than the abdomen, oval, the base of 

 one overlapping that of the other, the apex diverging : luings none : abdovien 

 ample, soft, especially on the sides : legs robust, elongate : tarsi densely 

 pilose beneath. 



How far it is advisable to separate this genus from the following 

 may perhaps be questioned ; but as the antennae are evidently dissi- 

 similar in their structure from those of the following genus, I shall 

 continue to discriminate them as indicated in my Catalogue. The 

 Proscarabaei may be known from the other indigenous genera of this 

 family by their distorted antennae, of which the basal and apical joints 

 are manifestly more slender than the intermediate ones, and the latter 

 are of dissimilar form in the sexes. There appears to be either some 

 strange misconception amongst entomologists of note respecting the 

 larvae of these insects, or otherwise their economy is very anoma- 

 lous. They seem to be produced from a mass of clear yellowish 

 eggs, and almost immediately to attach themselves to bees, flies, &c., 

 but others doubt the fact : the imago.feeds upon chickweed, ranun- 

 culi, and other herbaceous plants. 



Sp. 1 . violaceus. Violaceus, capite thoraceque punctatls, elytris rtigosis, thorace 



postice ernarginato. (Long. corp. 4 lin. — 1 unc. 3 lin.) 

 Me. violaceus. Marsham. — Linn. Trans. {Leach.) xi. ;)/. vii. f. 3, 1, 5. — Pr. 

 violaceus. Steph. Catal. 253. No. 2508. 



MandibuLata. Vol. IV. 31st March, 1832 f 



