INSECTA. 
I 518 
I 
I The following have the three basal joints of the tarsi, at least in the males, short, broad, and bilobed, the fourth 
; being very small and scarcely apparent, with the maxillary palpi filiform. 
Ips, Fab., having the body oval-oblong, depressed, with the posterior extremity of the body exposed, and with 
one of the mandibles (the left) truncated and tridentate at the tip, and the other broadly notched. [The species are 
mostly small, of a black colour, with red spots on the elytra.] 
Nitidula, Fab. (Strongylusy Herbst.), have both the mandibles narrowed at the tip and terminated in a bifid point. 
Sorne are flattened, oblong, or ovoid, others orbicular and gibbose, or proportionately more convex than the pre- 
ceding. N. cmea, Fabr., is found very abundantly in flowers : it is very small, of a shining bronzed green colour, 
with the antennae black, and the feet brownish black or fulvous. [i\T. grisea is one of the commonest British 
species, larger than the preceding, and generally found under the bark of willow-trees, where 
its larva also resides.] 
Cercus, Latr. {Catheretes, Herbst.), differs from the two preceding in having the second and 
third joints of the antennae nearly of equal size, the club elongated and pear-shaped, (and not 
suddenly formed and orbicular or oval) ; the body is depressed, and the elytra are truncate. 
[Very small species, found in flowers.] 
Byturiis, Latr., differs from all the preceding by having the tibiae long, narrow, and nearly 
Fig:. 64.— Nit. grisea- linear, the elytra covering the body, and not truncated at the tip, the body oval, and the club 
of the antennae oblong. [B. tomentosus, a small species of very common occurrence, the larva of which feeds in 
the interior of ripe raspberries.] 
The sixth tribe, Engidites, agrees with the last in having the mandibles notched at the tip, but differs 
in these organs scarcely extending beyond the sides of the labrum ; the body is oval or elliptic, with 
the anterior extremity of the head slightly advanced into an obtuse point. The tarsi have five distinct 
joints (some male Cryptophagi excepted, which are heteromerous), entire, and merely slightly villose 
beneath ; the penultimate joint is but a little shorter than the preceding, the antennae terminate in a per- 
foliated mass of 3 joints, the elytra entirely cover the abdomen, the palpi are slightly thickened at the 
tips. Some of the species, of very small size, hve in the interior of houses. These Clavicornes may be 
united into a single genus, 
Dacne. 
Bacne, Latr. (Engis, Fabr.), bas the antennae terminated suddenly in a large orbicular, or ovoid, and compressed 
close mass. 
Cryptophagus, Herbst., has the antennae moniliform, with the second joint as large or larger than the preceding, 
and terminated less suddenly by a narrower club with more distinct joints. [Minute domestic insects.] 
Anther ophagus, Knoch, has the antennae proportionably thicker, composed of transverse joints, and terminated 
gradually by a club, the second and the eighth joints being nearly equal-sized. 
Triphyllus, Meg., Dej., differs only from Cryptophagus in the number of the joints of the tarsi. 
We now pass to some tribes having the prosternum often dilated in front like a cravat, and which 
differ from the preceding in having the feet more or less contractile, the tibise being folded against the 
thighs, even though the tarsi may be free. The mandibles are short, thick, and toothed, the body is 
ovoid, thick, and clothed with scales, or hairs, easily abraded, which give it a diversified colour. The 
larvae are hairy, and feed for the most part on the skins or carcases of animals, many of them being 
very injurious in collections of insects. Such of them as have not the feet perfectly contractile, the 
tarsi remaining free, with the tibiae long and narrow, form our seventh tribe, Dermestini, and the genus 
Dermestes, Linn. 
Aspidiphorus, Zeigl., has only ten distinct joints in the antennae, the palpi very short, and the body orbicular. 
Nitidula orbiculata, Gyll., [a minute British species]. 
The following have eleven distinct joints in the antennae, and the palpi are filiform, or thickened at the tips. 
Some of these have the antennae not received in particular cavities on the under-side of the thorax. 
Dermestes proper, has the antennae smaller in both sexes ; the length of the terminal joint scarcely exceeding 
that of the preceding. Some of these insects commit great ravages in fur- warehouses, cabinets of natural history, 
&c., D. lardarius gnawing to pieces the insects in collections into which it may happen to make its way ; others 
feed upon carcases. 
Dermestes lardarius, Linn., is black, with the base of the elytra gray spotted with black ; its 
larva is long, gradually narrowed from the front to the extremity of the body ; dark brown 
above, white beneath, with long hairs, and two horny hooks on the last segment of the body. 
Megatoma, Herbst., has the club of the antennae greatly elongated in the males, the last 
joint of a lanceolate form. D. pellio, Linn., is 2^ lines long, black, with three white spots on 
the thorax, and one on each elytra. Its larva is very long, red brown, shining, with red hairs, 
those of the extremity of the body forming a tail. 
Limnichus, Zeigl., dilfers from the last two subgenera in having the antennae gradually 
clubbed ; they are granular, and are lodged under the anterior angles of the thorax ; the labial Fig. 65.— Dermestes 
palpi are very small. Byrrhus sericeus, Dufts. lardanus 
