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Show 288 INSECTA. The only species known-Scarites ruficornis, Fab.-inhabits the Cape of Good Hope. ScARITES, Fab. The four posterior tibic:c nan·ow, g-enerally smooth, anrl mere! furnished with little spines on their ridges, the intermediaries hav~ at most one or two teeth on the exterior side; the trochanter of the postcl'ior thighs much smaller than the thighs themselves. The mandibles form elongated triangles, and are strongly dcnt:lled at base. The second and third joints of the antenn~ resemble reversed cones, almost of the same thickness; the following ones are granu. lous. Some have two teeth on the exterior side of the intermediate tibi<£, Sc. pyracmon, Bonel.; Dej , Spec. I, p. 367; Sc. gigas, Oliv., Col. III, No. 36, I, 1; Clairv., Entom. Helv. II, ix, a. About an inch long; aptcrous; flattened; of a shining hlack; the elytra somewhat widened posteriorly, finely striate, and the strit lightly punctate; in the third, near the extremity, two more distinct and deeper puncta. The head, according to Count Dejean, is much larger in the male than in the female; the front of the latter presents two impressions and some little rug<£, The thorax, on each side, exhibits a tooth posteriorly. There are three on the anterior tibire. It is found on the borders of the Mediterranean, in the south of France, and the eastern part of Spain. M. Lefebvre de Cerisy, a distinguished naval officer and excellent entomologist, has published some observa· tions on its habits. Sc. ten·icola, Bonel.; Dej., Spec. I, p. 398. Body furnished with wings; from eight to nine lines in length; black; anterior tibi:£ with tlwce stout teeth, followed by three very small ones; external side of the two following tibire with but one; elytraelon· gated, striate, and slightly rugose; two deep points near the third stria. Found with the pyracmon. Sc. sabulosus, Oliv., Col. III, 36, 1, 8; Clairv., Entom. Helv. II,ix, 6; Scar.lawigatus, Fab., Dej. Very similar totheter· ricola, hut somewhat smaller and more depressed; it is apterous and the elytra slightly striate; but two indentations on the an· terior tibice after the three ordinary teeth. It inhabits the same localities as the pyracmon, and is also found in Sicily(!). ( 1) The Sc. subterrancus, Fab. Syst. El. I, p. 124, No. 8, is usually considered as the only species of Scat·ites that inhabits the United States. The very great dispm·ity of size, however, between it anc.l a congener•from Georgia, combined with COLEOPTERA. 289 OxvGNATHus, Dej. The Oxygnathi, as to their antennce and palpi, are essentially ~imilar to the preceding Insects, but having, as well as the two following subgenera, long, narrow, edentated mandibles which cross tach other in the manner of a forceps. Their body is narrow, elon-ated and cylindrical; their antennce shorte1· than the head and man! ibles united; the labrum rather indistinct, and the thorax almost square. The type of this su bgenus-Scarites elongatus, vViedem.; Oxygnathus elongatus, Dej. Spec. II, p. 47 4-is from the East Indies. There, the four exterior palpi, or at least those of the labrum, terminate by a fusiform joint ending in a point. 'fhe body is elan· gated and cylindrical, and the mandibles are long, narrow, and without any remarkable teeth, like those of the Oxygnathi. OxvsToMus, Lat. The labial palpi almost as long as the exterior ones of the maxillce, recurved, the first joint salient and cylindrical, the second but slightly elongated, and the last fusiform, long and acutely pointed at the end; the antennce completely moniliform from the middle of their length, with the first joint as long as the th1·ee following ones united( 1 ). CAMPTODONTus, Dej. The labial palpi evidently shorter than the external ones of the maxillre, not recurved, and tet·minated as well as the latter by a fusiform joint; a greater part of the joints of the antennce resembling inverted cones; the length of the first hardly surpassing that of the two following ones taken together(2). The others, whose anterior tibi:£ are not dentated externally, but simply didactyle at the end, have short mandibles, projecting but little beyond the.labrum; the labrum coriaceous and entire; the ligula advancing beyond the emargination of the mentum, glabrous, or but slightly pilose, with separate, salient, and membranous para-a certain difference of aspect would seem to warrant the supposition that the latter is a distinct species. Although, after the most careful comparison of the two, I confess my inability to point out any truly specific difference, I nm still inclined to believe they are dist!nct. .B.m. Ed. (1) Oxy!tomua cylindricua, Dej. Spec. J, p. 410. Brazil. (2) Camptodontua cayennenaia, lb., II, p. 477. v OL. III.-2 M |