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Show 382 INSECTA. rior part of the head projects in ~he manner of a semicircular fiat. tened clypeus, covering the mandibles and other parts of the mouth. CoLonrous, Lat. In this and the following subgenus, the tarsi, from the point where they are movable, seem to consist of but four joints, of which the three first, much shorter than the last, are entire, and simply furnish. ed underneath with a greater or smaller number of hairs; the first, as in several of the Cieri of Fabricius, is only visible underneath . 1 , where it forms a little projection; It is also pi ose. The palpi of the Colobici and those of the following subgenus are terminated by a joint somewhat thicker than the preceding one(l ). In the other Nitidularire, the antenna! club always consists or three joints, and the head never project~ over the mouth. Sometimes the first joint of the tarsi, as in the Colobici, is very short, and the three following ones elongated, equal, entire and simply pilose underneath; the palpi are thickest at the extremity. Such is THYMALus, Latr.-Peltis, Fab.-Silpha, Lin. In those species where the body is almost hemispherical-limbatus- the antenna! club is proportionally shorter, and the third and following joints smaller than the second; the tibial spurs are ex· tremely small(2). Sometimes the three first joints of the tarsi, at least those of the males, are short, wide, and emarginated or bilobate; the fourth is very small, but slightly or not at all visible; the maxillary palpi, at least, are filiform. Here, the tibic:e, at least the anterior ones, are widened at the ex· tremity in the form of a reversed triangle; the first joint of the an· tennre is usually larger than the second, and the elytra are generally truncated posteriorly, or very obtuse. In the two following subgenera, the third joint of the antennre is evidently longer than the following one, and the antenna! club abrupt and nearly orbicular or oval. IPs, Fab.-Nitidula, Oliv. Lat.-Silpha, Lin. The body always forming an oblong oval, and depressed; posterior extremity of the abdomen exposed; one of the mandibles-the lefttruncated and tridentated at the extremity, and the other widened ( 1) Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., II, p. 9, and I, xvi, 1. (2) See Fabricius, Gyllenhal, and Schrenherr. COLEOPTERA. 383 and broadly emarginated or concave at the same end; terminal lobe or the maxillre elongated( 1 ). NmnuLA, Fab.-Nitidula, Strongylus, Herbst.-Silpha, Lin. The two mandibles become narrowed near the extremity and ter- 'nate in an emarglnated or bifid point. . mlSomc are flattened, oblong, or ovoid; the others are orbicular and rcbed or proportionally more convex than the preceding. Thus :ome authors have placed certain species in genera of a similar form but otherwise very different, such as Spheridium and Tritoma. N. ceneus, Fab.; N. viridescens, rufipes, var., Id.; Oliv., Col., II, ii, 12; III, 20, a, b; V, 33, a, b. Small; form, an oblong ovoid; of a brilliant bronze-green and multi-punctured; antennre blackish terminated by a very large obtuse club; thorax transversal, slightly emarginated anteriorly, and bordered laterally; legs sometimes blackish-brown, and sometimes fulvous(2). . Here the second and third joints of the antennre are almost equal m size, and the club is elongated in the form of a reversed cone, or is pyriform. CERCUs, Lat.-Catheretes, Herbst. Illig.-Dermestes, Lin. Fab.Splueridium, Fab. Gyll.-Nitidula, Oliv. The body depressed, and elytra truncated; two first joints of the antennre much larger in the males of some species than in the females, and perhaps this subgenus should consist of such only, re-ferring t~e others to Nitidula(3). . There the tibire are long, narrow, and almost lmear; the· elytra cover the abdomen and are not truncated. The body is oval, thorax trapezoidal, and the ante~nal_club, oblong; its two first joints are nearly equal, and the th1rd IS hardly longer than the fourth. Such are the BrTuRus, Lat. Schrenh.-Dermestes, Geoff. Fab. Oliv.-Jps, Oliv.(4) Those that compose our sixth tribe, that ~f th_e ENGIDITEs, analogous to the Nitidularire in the emargmatwn of the extremity of their mandibles, are distinguished from them by (1) Some of the species of Fabricius should apparently be referred to his genus Engi8. (2) See Fabricius, Olivier, Gyllenhal, Schrenherr, &c. (3) See Gyllenh., Insect. Suec. I, p. 245. (4) See Sch~nh., Synon. Insect. I, ii, P· 95. |
