THE “ SKIPJACKS ” AND THEIR ALLIES. 163 
The Boprestida: have the antennae short, serrated, 
and inserted in cavities ; the head buried in the 
thorax up to the eyes, which are large, and vertically 
oblong j the mouth on the lower side of the head ; 
the labrum small : the ligula often hidden behind the 
mentum ; two fringed, lamelliform, toothless lobes to 
the maxillae ; the mandibles short and strong ; the 
thorax not produced into spines at the hinder angles ; 
the front and middle coxae globose, forming con- 
spicuous cups for the trochanters, and the posterior 
coxa) lamelliform, with small trochanters ; the tibiae 
always armed with short spurs at the apex ; the four 
first joints of the tarsi with membranous plates on 
the under side ; the two first ventral segments of the 
abdomen soldered together ; and the prosternum 
ending in a flat projection, received and fixed into a 
sternal cavity, which in Anthaxia and its allies is 
formed by the meso- and meta-sternum, and in Agrilus 
and Trachys almost entirely by the latter. 
In certain species there are one or two more or 
less retractile additional segments to the abdomen, 
attached to the generative organs. 
They are remarkable for their hard integuments, 
metallic colour, and rigidity of body ; and are usually 
cylindrical, elongate and somewhat depressed, — 
Trachys only being short and “ dumpy.” 
The parts of the mouth are small, aud present but 
little assistance in classification ; but the conspicuous 
development of certain pores in their antenna) (first 
pointed out by Erichson, and considered by him as 
olfactory channels) has been made use of by Lacor- 
daire in separating the different tribes and groups of 
this (exotically) extensive family. These pores, which 
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