COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 
177 
MALACHIUS MARGINELLUS. 
PLATE VIII. Fig. 5. 
Fabricius Olivier, ii. No. 27, pi. 3, fig. 18, a , 6. 
This insect affords an example of the family Me - 
lyridce , which is characterised by short and filiform 
palpi, mandibles notched at the point, a narrow 
elongated body, undivided joints in the tarsi, and 
claws furnished with a single tooth. The genus 
Malachius* generally has the joints of the antenna? 
a little produced on the inner side ; the thorax is 
wider than the head, and has a vesicle, capable of 
being dilated and contracted, beneath each of the 
anterior angles. The radical joints of the antennae 
are often irregular in the male. The species are 
numerous, amounting to more than a hundred, but 
only fifteen of these occur in Britain. They are 
chiefly European, but a few are found in every 
quarter of the world. The species above refer- 
red to (which is represented as it appears under 
a powerful magnifier) is a native of France and 
England. It is of a brassy-green colour, with the 
sides of the thorax and tips of the elytra of a blood 
red. The under parts of the body and legs are like- 
wise green, and the antennae black. 
Another tribe of malacodermatous insects consti- 
• From (tcaXaae/a, referring to the softness of the body. 
M 
