OCR Text |
Show 266 INSJ<~CTA. larva resembles a Worm, having a scaly head, a mouth analogous to th~t. ?f the perf~ct Insect in ~he number of its parts, and usua11y SIX feet. Some few speciCs are destitute of th or have merely simple mammi11m. em The pupa is inactive and takes .no nourishment. The habitatio' 1~, mode of life, and other hab!ts of these Insects, in both states, greatly vary. · I divide this order into four sections, according to the num. ber of joints in the tarsi. The first comprises the PENT AMBRA, or those in which all the tarsi consist of five joints, and is composed of six families the. t~o first of which are distinguished from the others by~ double excremental. apparatus( I). FAMILY I. CARNIVORA(2). Two palpi to each maxilla, or six in all; antenn~ almost always filiform or setaceous, and simple. The maxillre are terminated by a scaly hook or claw and t~e in~erior si~e is furnished with cilia or little spines. 'The hgula 1s fixed In an emargination of the mentum. The two anterior legs are inserted on the sides of a compressed ster· num, and placed on a large patella; the two posterior have a stout trochanter at their origin ; their first joint is large, ap. P~~rs to b~ confounded with the post-pectus, and forms a cur· vilmear triangle, with the exterior side excavated. These Insects pursue and devour others. Several have ( 1) Ac~o~ding. to M. Dufour the Silplu~, a g enus of our fourth family, also pre· sent one; 1t 1s umque, however, or but 011 one side. (2) Carn.assiers, Cuv.-.lldeplwge, Clairv. This family which is one of 'the largest of t~1e ~oleoptera, already illustrated hy the ln.bom·~ of Weber, Clairville, and llonelh, Wtth respect to the method, will finally be reduced to order as re· gards the species 'f c t D · · . ' • ' 1 oun eJean contmue hts "Species des Coleoptcres,"four volum. es. of whtch are now pub l'I S h e d , a work remarkable fot• the exactness of 1.t s desc1:~pttons. COLEOPTERA. 2,67 no wings undet: t~eir elytra. The anterior taJ·si 10 most of the males are dilated or widened. . The larvre a~so are very carnivorous. Their body is usually cylindricaJ, elongated, and composed of twelve rings; the head, which is not included in this supputation, is large, squamous, armed with two stout mand_i bles, re?urved at the point, and presents two short and comcal antennre, two maxillm divided into two branches, one of which is formed by a palpus, a ligula bearing two pal pi, shorter than the others, and six sma11 simple eyes o~ each side. The first annulus is covered by 'a squamous plate; the others are soft, m· have uut little firmness. Each of the three first bears a pair of legs the extremity of which curves forwards. · . ' These ]arvro differ according to the genus. In those of the Cicindelre and of the Aristus bucephalus, the top of the head is very concave in the middle, whilst its inferior portion is convex. They have two small simple eyes, on each side much larger, and similar to those of the Lycosre. The supe~ rior plate of the first segment is large, and forms a semicircular shield. There are two hooked mammillre on the back of the eighth annulus; the last has no remarkable appendage. In the other larvre of this family which are known to us, those of Omophron excepted, the head is weaker and more equal. The simple eyes are very smalJ and similar. The ~quamous piece of the first ring is square, and does not proJectfrom the body . . There are no mammi11re on the eighth; and the last is terminated by two conical appendages, exclusive or a membranous tube formed by the prolongatio·n of that rar~ of the body which contains the anus. These appendages, m the larvre of Calosoma and Carabus, are horny ami dentated. In those of Harpalus and Licinus, they are fleshy, articulated and longer. The body of the larva of a Harpalus is somewhat shorter, and the head a little larger. The mandibles of both approach the form of those of the perfect Insect. The larva of the Omophron borde, according to the observations of Desmarest, has a conical form, a large head, with two very stout mandibles and but two eyes ; the posterior extremity of |