paap.3 
PLATE XLIIl. 
MELOE. PROSCARABEUS. 
CoLEOPTERA. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Antennz globular, the laft globule oval. Thorax roundifh. Shells 
foft. Head gibbous, and bent downwards. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Blue, black. No wings. Shells fhort. Abdomen long. Antenne 
thickeft in the middle, Head broad. ‘Thorax narrower than the 
head, and without margin. Length 13 inch ————Sy/. Ent. 259. I+ 
—Linn, Sy/t. Nat. 2. 679 1-—Fa, Sv, 826. 
rr LL 
It is by no means for the beauty, but fingularity of this creature that 
we have given it a place in our prefent feleCtion. If it is too perfect 
for the larva of an Infect, it certainly appears too imperfect for the 
adult ftate; it has fhells, but cannot fly, and their length compared 
with the proportion of the body contributes much to its awkward ap- 
pearance. It is very quick-fighted, and runs with fwiftnefs when in 
danger. 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 oozes from the fides. 
We have feveral fpecies of the Meloe differing in fize, colour, and 
proportion; the Meloe Profcarabeus is the moft 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 for 
its devaftation. May be taken in May or June 
D 2 PLATE 
