C 19 3 

 PLATE XLIII. 



MELOE. PROSCAR ABEUS. 



COLEOPTER A. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Antenns globular, the laft globule oval. Thorax roundifh. Shells 

 ft, Head gibbous, and bent downwards. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Blue, black. No wings. Shells fliort. Abdomen long. Antenna? 

 lickeft in the middle. Head broad. Thorax narrower than the 



ead, and without margin. Length i| inch.- Syfr. Ent. 259. 1. 



-Linn. Syji. Nat. 2. 679. l.—Fn. Sv. 826. 



It is by no means for the beauty, but Angularity of this creature that 

 ve have given it a place in our prefent feleftion. If it is too perfect 

 or the larva of an Infeft, it certainly appears too imperfect for the 

 .dultftate; it has fhells, but cannot fly, and their length compared 

 vith the proportion of the body contributes much to its awkward ap- 

 pearance. It is very quick-fighted, and runs with fwiftnefs when in 

 langer. After death the body is confiderably contracted, and the 

 native brilliancy of colour it poffeffed while living immediately va- 

 nifhes. When touched, a brown liquor oo*es from the fides. 



We have feveral fpecies of the Meloe differing in fize, colour, and 

 proportion; the Meloe Profcarabeus is the mofl common, at leaft near 

 London. It feeds under the furface of the ground, on the tender 

 fibrils of plants, and prefers the light earth of the flower-garden fe* 

 its devaluation. May be taken in May or June. 



D 2 HATE 



