54 



Genus XX. CANTHARIS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Antenna setaceous. Thorax margined and 

 shorter than the head. Elytra flexible. Ab- 

 domen plaited into papillae on the sides. 



General Observations. 



Linnaeus has divided the Cantharides into 

 two sections. In the first the thorax is depress- 

 ed, in the second it is rounded. 



These insects are commonly found upon 

 flowers, but they are said not to live entirely 

 on the honey which the nectaries produce, be- 

 ing observed occasionally to attack and devour 

 other insects of a smaller size than themselves. 

 Some of them (such as Fabricius has classed 

 under the genus Malachites), present a singu- 

 larity in their formation, which must not be 

 passed unnoticed. When they are taken up 

 in the hand and examined, two red, inflated, 

 soft, and irregular vesicles, composed of three 

 lobes, will be seen to issue from each side the 

 thorax and abdomen. These fourvesicles, upon 



