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Show 368 INSECTA. divided anteriorly by a depression; elytra with punctured strire. According to De Geer, it will permit itself to be roasted to death by a slow fire, rather than exhibit the least sign of life when it is seized. .fl.. striatum, Oliv.; .llnobium pertinax, Fab.; Panz., lb., LXVI, , 5. Very similar to the preceding, but smaller, and destitute of the yellow spots at the posterior angles of the thorax-very common in houses. M. Dufour has observed a number of ap· pend ages round its pylot·us which form a kind of strawberry. .fl.. paniceum, Fab.; .fl.. minutum, Id.; Oliv. lb. II, 9. Very small; fulvous; thorax smooth; elytra striated. It gnaws farinaceous substances, and devastates our cabinets of Insects, if left undisturbed. It also establishes its domicil in cork(l). The third and last section of the Serricornes, forming also a last tribe, that of the XYLOTROGI, is distinguished from the two preceding ones, as we have already stated, by the entire freedom of the head, and consists of the genus LYMEXYLoN, Fab., Which we will divide as follows. In some, the maxillary palpi are much larger than those of the labium, pendent, pectiniform or tufted in the males, and terminated by a large ovoid joint in the females. The antennre are short, slightly widened in the middle, and narrowed at the extremity. The tarsi are filiform, and all the joints entire; the four posterior long and very slender. Those, whose elytra are very short, and in the form of a little scale, constitute the genus. ATRAOTOOERus, Palis. de Beauv.-Necydalis, Lin.-Lymexylon, Fab. The antennre compressed and almost fusiform; thorax square; abdomen depressed. .11. necydaloides, Palis. de Beauv., Magaz. Encyclop.; Necy· dalis brevicornis, L.; Lymexylon abbrev'iatum, Fab.; Macrogas· ter abbreviatus, Thunb. This Insect is found in Guinea, and appears to differ but little from another species that inhabits Brazil. There is a second much smaller and perfectly distinct, (1) See Schcenh., Synon. Insect., I, 2, p. 101. Some of the species ofFabricius belong to the genus Cia. COLEOPTERA. 369 enclosed in ambe1·, that belongs to the Museum. A third is met with in Java. Those, in which the elytra arc as long as the abdomen, or not rnuch shorter, form two subgenera. Here, the antennre are comprrssed and serrated, the joints trans-ver sal,. thorax almost square. Such is the HYLEOG:Tus, Lat.-Meloe, Cantharis, Lin.-Lymexylon, Fab. H. dermestoides; Meloe Marci, L., the male; Lymexylon moria, Fab.; L. proboscideum, I d.; Cantharis derrnestoides, L., the female; L. dermestoides, Fab., I d.; Oliv., Col., II, 25; I, 1, 2, It. The female is six lines in length; pale-fulvous; pectus and eyes black. The male is black; the elytra sqmetimes blackish, and sometimes reddish with a black extremity. Germany, England, and the north of Europe. There, the antennre are simple, slightly or not at all compressed, and almost moniliform. The thorax is nearly cylindrical. LYMEXYLoN, Fab.-Cantharis, Lin.-Elateroides, Schreff. L. navale, Fab., the female; L. jlavipes, Id., the male; Oliv., lb., 1, 4. Length of the preceding, but narrower; pale-fulvous; the head, exterior margin, and extremity of the elytra, black; the latter colour rather more predominant in the male. This Insect is very common in the Oak forests of the north of Europe, but rare in the vicinity of Paris; its larva is very long and slender, almost resembling a Filaria. It multiplied so excessively in the dock-yards at Toulon some years ago, as to destroy great quantities of timber(!). In the others the pal pi are very short, and similar in both sexes(2). The antennre are always simple and of equal thickness throughout. The tarsi are short, and the penultimate joint in some is bilobate. The body is of a firm consist~nce, the top of the head unequal or sulcated, and the thorax nearly square or suborbicular. CuPEs, Fab. · Joints of the antennre almost cylindrical; penultimate joint of the {I) The Lymexylon proboscideum of Olivier, from which he took his description, l!ld which is now in the cabinet of Count de Jousselin of Versailles, should form a separate genus. See also the Lymezylon jlabellicorne of Panzer, Faun. Insect. Germ., XI, 10. (2) The last joint, at least that of the maxillary pal pi, is somewhat thjcker and almost ovoid. · VoL. III.-2 W |
