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Show 384 INSECTA. their not projecting, or but very little and simply on the sides beyond the labrum. Their body i.s oval or elliptical, and th~ anterior extremity of the head shghtly extended into an ob. tuse or truncated point. The tarsi consist of five(l) distinct joints, entire, and at most, slightly pilose underneath; the pe· nultimate is somewhat shorter than the preceding one. The antennre terminate in a perfoliaceous triarticulated club; the elytra completely cover the abdomen, and the palpi are some· what thicker at the extremity. Some very small species in· habit the interior of houses, and are frequently found on windows. We will unite them all in a single genus, that of DACNE. DAaNE, Lat.-Engis, Fab. Dej.-Erotylus, Oliv. Their antennce terminate abruptly in a very large orbicular or ovoid and compressed club, composed of crowded joints, of which the middle one at least is much wider than it is long; the third is longer than the second and fourth. The middle of the posterior margin of the thorax is dilated behind or lobate, and the superior extremity of the mentum terminated in a truncated or bidentated point(2). In CRYPTOPHAGus, Herbst. Schrenh.-Dermestes, Lin. Fab.-lps, Oliv. Lat.-iJ.ntherophagus, Knoch, The antennre are moniliform, their second joint as large as the preceding or larger, and terminating in a less abrupt and narrower club than in Dacne, and with intervals between its segments(3). We now come to certain tribes in which the prresternum is frequently dilated anteriorly in the manner of a chin-cloth, (1) Certain Cytophagi, or at least their males, according to some ::\Uthors are heteromerous. (2) See Fab., Syst. Eleut. (3) See Schrenh., Synon. Insect., I, ii, p. 96. The antennre of the Antherophagi are proportion:tlly thicker, composed of more tt·ansversal joints, and terminated almost gradually in a club; from the second to the eighth they are nearly equal. The Cryptupltagus silaceus, Gyll., has a projec· tion in the form of a tooth or horn on each side of the inferior surface of the head. The Triphylla of Meget·l. and Dej. only differ from the Crytophagi in the number of their tarsialjoints. COLEOPTEUA. 385 d which differ from the preceding ones in their feet, which ~~either wholly or partially contractile; the tarsi may be free, ~ut the tibire at least can be flexed on the thigh. The man diMes are short, and generally thick and dentated. The body is ovoid thick, and covered with deciduous scales or hairs of vario~s colours. The antennre are straight and usually shorter than the head and thorax. The head is plunged into the thorax as far as the eyes. The thorax is but slightly or not at all bordered, trap.ezoidal, and wider posteriorly; the middle of its posterior margin is frequently somewhat prolonged or lobate. The larvre are pilose, and mostly feed on the exuvire or carcasses of animals. Several are very injurious to entomological collections. Those then in which the legs are not completely retractile, the tarsi being always free, and the tibire elongated and narrow, form our seventh tribe, that of the DERMESTINI, and the great genus DERMESTES. The only insects of this tribe whose antennre do not present two distinct joints, and whose very short and inferiorly inflated palpi afterwards tet·minate in a point, are those which form the AsPIDIPHORus, Ziegl. Dej. Their body is orbicular(!). From among the species in which the antcnnre consist of eleven distinct joints, and the palpi are filiform or gradu~lly e?largc, w.c will first separate those whose antennre are not rece1ved mto particular fossulre in the under part of the thorax. The prresternum rarely extends over the mouth(2). . In some, the antennre terminate abruptly in a large perfohaceous triarticulated club. DERMESTES, Lin., Geoff., Fab. In Det·mestes, properly so called, the antennre are similar, or differ (1) Nitidula orbiculata, Gyllenh. ) f F (2) The only exceptions are found in the Dmnestea unclatua (Megatoma 0 a· bricius, and the Limnichi, Ziegl. VoL III.-2 Y |