420 INSECTA. 



commonly termed garden fleas, are very injurious in both states to our 

 kitchen gardens. Of all countries, South America furnishes the greatest 

 number. 



Altica, Lat. 



In the true Alticac the head is salient, and the posterior tibiae are truncat- 

 ed at their extremity and without any particular prolongation or forked 

 spine; the tarsus originates from this extremity, and its length is not equal 

 to half that of the tibia. 



A. oleracea. About two lines in length; oval, elongated; green or bluish; 

 a transverse impression on the thorax; elytra finely punctured. On vege- 

 tables. It is the largest of the European species. 



FAMILY VII. 

 CLAVIPALPI. 



The Insects of our seventh and last family of the Tetramera are 

 distinguished from all those of the same section, having, like them, 

 the under part of the three first joints of the tarsi furnished with 

 brushes and the penultimate bifid, by their antennae, which are ter- 

 minated in a very distinct and perforated club, as well as by their 

 maxillae, armed on the inner side by a nail or corneous tooth. In 

 some ievf^ the joints of the tarsi are entire, but they are removed 

 from the other Tetramera with analogous tarsi by their body, which 

 is almost globular and contracts into a ball. 



Their body is most commonly of a rounded form, and frequently 

 even very convex and hemispherical; the antennae are shorter than 

 the body, the mandibles emarginated or dentated at the extremity, 

 and the palpi terminated by a large joint; the last joint of the max- 

 illary palpi is very large, transversal, compressed, and almost lunate. 

 The form of their organs of manducation shows them to be gnawers, 

 and in fact the species indigenous to Europe are found in the Boleti 

 which grow on the trunks of trees, under their bark, &c. 



Some have the penultimate joint of the tarsi bilobate, and do not 

 contract themselves into a ball. 



They may be reunited in the single genus 



Erotylus, Fab. 



In the Erotyli properly so called, the intermediate joints of the antennae are 

 almost cylindrical, and the club , formed by the last ones, is oblong; the in- 

 terior and corneous division of their maxillae is terminated by two teeth. 



