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Show 274 INSIWTA. CARAnus, Lin . . 'Vhere the maxillae simply terminate in a point or hook, without an at·ticulated extremity. Their head is usually narrower than the thorax, or, at most, of the same width; their mandibles, those of a few excepted, have no den. tations or but very few; the ligula usually projects, and the labial pal pi exhibit but three free joints( 1 ). Many of them are destitute of wings, only having elytra. They frequently diffuse a fetid odour and eject an acrid and caustic liquid from the anus. Geoffroy be~ licved that the ancients designated Carabici under the name of lltprestes, Insects which they considered as highly poisonous, par. ticularly to Oxen(2). The Carabici conceal themselves in the ground, under stones, chips, bark of old trees, &c., and are mostly very active. Their larve have the same habits. This tribe is very numerous, and forms a most difficult study. We will compose a fit·!lt general subdivision with those, the termi· nation of whose exterior palpi is not subulate; their last joint is not united with the preceding one to form either an oval body acutely pointed at the end, or a conoid terminated by a slender and acicular point. These Carabici may be subdivided into those whose two anterior tibire have a deep notch on the inner side, separating the two spines which are usually placed near each other at the extremity of this side, and into those where these tibire present no emargination, or if any, a mere oblique, linear canal, which does not reach their ante· rior side. Of this subdivision we will make several sections: 1. The TRuNOATIPENNEs, so called because the posterior extremity of their elytra is almost always truncated. The head and thoraxare narrower than the abdomen. The ligula is most commonly oval or square, and is rarely accompanied on the sides by salient divisions. The hooks of the tarsi, in some, are simple or not dentated, but arranged like the teeth of a comb. We will commence with those in which the head is not abruptly narrowed at its posterior extremity, and is not attached to the tho· rax by a sort of suddenly formed neck, or by a species of patella. ( 1) In Cicinde]a the radical joint is free, and it is on this account that the palpi consist of four; but here it is entirely adherent and forms but one base which is not counted. l2) See the genus Meloe. COLEOPTBUA. 275 The thorax is always in the fQrm of a truncated heart. The .exte. alpi are never terminated by a much larger and securlform r.J o• r t P The two anter1· 0r tars1· o f t l1 e maI e s are not d 1'l ate d , or 1· f s'o , JOID • • but very slightly; the penultimate joint of these and the other tarsi is never deeply bilobate. , The three following subgenera have a common negative character: that of being destitute of wings. ANTIIIA, Web. Fab. An oval, horny ligula, advancing between the palpi nearly to their extremity. The labrum ft·equently large and dentated or angular. The exterior palpi filiform; the last joint almost cylindrical ot· forming a reversed and elongated cone. No tooth in the cmargination of the mentum. The abdomen oval, and most frequently con-vex; elytra almost entire, or but slightly truncated. · These Insects, as well as those of the ensuing subgenus, have a black body spotted with white; a colour formed by down; they inhabit the deserts and similar localities of Aft·ica( 1) and some parts of Asia. According to the late M. Leschenault de Latour, the Anthire, when irritated, discharge a caustic fluid from the anus. The species generally are large, and in the males of some the' thorax is more or less dilated posteriorly and terminates by two lobes(2). GuAPHIPTlmus, Lat.-.l.lnthia, Fab. The Graphipteri were formerly confounded with the Anthire, but differ from them in their ligula, which, the middle part excepted, is entirely membranous; and in their compressed an tenure, whose thit·d joint is mu'ch longer than the others. Besides this, their abdomen is always flattened and orbicular, and one of the two spines terminating the posterior tibi<£ is always laminiform and rnu~h longer than the other. The species of this subgenus ~re exclusively proper to Africa, and smaller than the preceding(3). (1) Although several Insects of the north of Africa have been discovered in the south of Spain and Italy, not a solitary species of Anthia or Graphipterus has ever been found there. (2) See Ilist. Nat. des Coleop. d'Eur., fascic. II; the Species des Coleop., D~j., l; the excellent Synonymia. lnsectorum of Schrenherr; and the zoological portlOn ofthe Voy. de Caillaud, where I have described and figured the Insects collected by him in Africa. · (3) See Hist. Nat. Coleop. d'Eur., fascic. 11, and the Spe¢ies des Coleop., I, |