50S IXSECTA. 



[The r.iarliplytra lia\c hccti invcstigatrid oy several recent aiithoi'S, wlirj liave pulillslieil eitlier com- 

 jilcte iiiniii)gr;L[ilis, or deseriptions of the S]jecie3 Ijcloiigiiig to vai-ioiis countries. In addilicjn to PaykulL's 

 )iionngrai)li of the Swedisli species, pnbllslicd in 17S',), and Ci'iaveiiliorst's Cfjlcoplcn-a Micropt(;ra, at 

 Brnnswiek in 1802, and Muuuyr. Cukopt. Micropf., 181JG, we may jncntion Count Mannerheim's 

 revision of the tiilie, puljlishedin the Trmi^acliov^ of [he Imperhd Jcrjd. SI. Pcterahurg, 1831 ; Latredle's 

 nu'inoir on tlie Dentiernra, in tlie Sonv. A/uiaks ihi Miisciny,, vol. i. ; Laporte's descriptions of many 

 new species in his EtitrUs Entonwlogiqur^s \ Nordniann's work on the Brachclytra, puhhshed at Berlin in 

 18.38 ; Erichson's description of the Coleoptera of Brandenburg, and his Genera el species Siaphijlimrmn, 

 just piiblished, (December 1839); and JMr. Stephens's British Eatomalorjy ; in all which works, as well 

 as in numerous detached memoirs by other authors, to which we cannot refer in detail, are contained 

 the descriptions of numerous new species and many new genera, — to speak according to the text of this 

 }rork, subgenera, — amongst which some remarkable variations of structure occur, especially in some just 

 figured liv Ericlison,and Zliytos.sa, Hal., ami Ceiitroglossa and Xlei/iO/MM, Mathews, described in the £/(/<>- 

 molof/icril Mitf/a:i)te. We have collected all that relates to tlie natural history of these insects in the 

 I/iirrjihfction to the Modern Ctassijication of Insects, vol. i. p. 1G2. Tlie family Pselaphidte, placed in 

 this work at tlie end of the Beetles, ought in a natural s\stem to ije jilaced in immediate contact with 

 the Bracliel\ tra.] * 



THE THIRD FAIIILY OF THE COLEClPTER.V EEKTAJIEKA,— 



The Serricorxes, — 

 .\lso possesses only four palpi, but the elytra entirely cover the abdomen, which, with other characters, 

 distinguishes them from the Brachelytra ; the anteunEC (with some exceptions,) are of the same thickness 

 throughout, or slender at the tip, and toothed, serrated, or fan-shaped; being most developed in these 

 respects in the males. Tlie penultimate joint of tlie tarsi is often hilobed or bifid. These characters 

 are lareiy found in the next family, the Clavieornes, to whicli we approach so gradually that it is diffi- 

 cult to assign its limits rigorously. 



Some of the Serricornes, having the body always of a solid consistence, and often oval or elliptic, with 

 the feet jiarfly contractile, have tiie bead vertically introiluced as far as the eyes into the thora.x, and 



the prosterni or tlie middle part of this portion of the body, elongated, dilated, or advanced in front 



as far as tlie mouth, (gencrallv distinguished on each side by a canal, in which the anteniue, always 

 sliort, repose,) and posteriorly prolonged into a point nliich is received in an impressiiui of the anterior 

 cxtremitv of the mesosternuin. These fore-legs are at a tlistance from tlie anterior extreniit) of tlie thorax. 

 Tlicse Serricornes form a first section, that of the Sleriio.ri. 



Olbcrs, liaving the head also received posteriorly into the thorax, or at least covered liy it at the 

 base, hut of which the prosternum is not dilated and advanced anteriorly like a necklock, nor ordi- 

 narilv leniiiiiated (except in Cebrio) behind in a point received into a cavity of the mesosternum, and 

 in which the body is generally entirely or partly of a soft and flexible cousistcnce, compose the second 

 section, Maiacoderrni. 



A third and last section, the Xijhjtrogi, comprises those Serricornes in which the prosternuni is not 

 elongated at its posterior extremity, and in which the head is entirely free, and separated from the 

 tliorax by a narrowed neck. 



We divide the first of these sections, the Slernori, into two trilics. 



Tlie first, Bujrreslides, has the posteriorly produced part of the prosternum flat, not terminated by a 

 laterally compressed point, and simply received in a depression or nolcli of the mesosternum. The 

 iiiandililes are often terminated in an entire point w ithoiit a notch ; the posterior angles of the thorax 

 are not, or hut slightly, elongated; the last joint of the paliii is generally cylindric, and not thicker 

 lliaii Ihe luereding ; the majority have the larsi dilated and cushioned beneath. They do not leap, 

 which enuuently distinguishes them from the following tribe. They compose the genus 



BuPRESTis, Linn., — 

 And liave been termed Kicliards by the French, in allusion to their splendid colours, many being 



