OCR Text |
Show INSECTA. G. dispar; Ceratophyus dispar, Fisch., Entomog. Russ. I II, xviii. A horn on the head and thorax. Italy and Ru ~p., . d . f 1 ssta, Sometimes both sexes are esutute o 10rns. They are th e Ge o. trupes proper. G. stercorarius; Scarabreus sterco1·arius, L.; Oliv., Ib. v 39• A shining black or deep gr·een above, violaceous or golden g 1 reen beneath; a tubercle on the vertex; dotted bands on the elytra with smooth inter·vals; two indentations at the base of the pos: terior thighs. G. vernalis; Scarab. vernalis, L.; Oliv., lb., iv, 23. Shorter than the stercorarius, and approximating to a hemispherical figure; a violet or blue-black; antennre black; elytt·a smooth. OoHODJEus, Meg.-Melolontlw, Fab. The labrum in this subgenus is str·ongly emarginated, and almost in the form of a heart truncated posteri01·ly. The mandibles are in the form of an elongated triangle, one of them tct·minating in a sim. pie point, with a notch beneath, and the othet· in two obtuse teeth. The exterior lobe of the maxillre is bordered with little spines or stout cilia hooked at the end and has two small hot·ny and equal inner teeth; the othet·, or internal lobe, is formed by a pointed pencil of hairs. The last joint of their palpi is cylindrical, ancl much longer than the penultimate; the second of the labial pal pi is l:u·ger than the others, and the following, or· last, in the fot·m of a tt·uncated ovoid. There are but two teeth on the extet·iot· side of the anterior tibire, and two spines may be observed on the extremity of the oppo· site side, of which the inferior is the smallest. The body is Jess elevated, in proportion, than that of the other· Geotrupes, and is destitute of horns(!). Those Geotrupes, in which the antenna! club is lat·ge, orbicular or nearly globular, and whose first and last leaflet when contracted completely envelope the intermediate or tenth, or form a sort of box for it, form three subgenera. That of ATHYREus, Mac Leay, Approximates to the Coprophagi in its inter·mediate legs, which ar·e more remote at base than the othet·s(2). ELEPHASTOMus, Mac Leay. The Elephastomi are remarkable for· their epistoma, which is ( 1) Melolontha cltrytJomelina, Fab.; Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ., XXXIV,~. (2) Hor. Entomol., I, 1, p. 123. COLEOPTERA. 413 dilated on both sides and prolonged anteriorly, in their middle, into an almost square lamina, thickest and forked at the end; and for the length of theit· maxillary palpi, which is almost thrice that of those attached to the labium. The mentum is profoundly: emar. ginated, and the mandibles are dentated at the extt·emity(l). BoLBOOERAS, Kirby.-Odontams, Zieg.-Scarabreus, Lin. Fab. Where, as in Ochodreus, to which they closely approximate, one of the mandibles is simple at the extremity, and the othet· dentated. The maxillary palpi are not much longer than the others, and there is no emargination in the mentum. B. mobilicornis; Scarab. mobilicornis, Fab.; Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ., XII, 2. Small; black above, fulvous beneath; the head armed with a very long, linear, slightly recut·vcd and mobile horn; the thorax deeply punctured, canaliculated in the middle, and furnished anteriol'ly with four tubercles; elytra marked with dotted strire; the body sometimes all fulvous-8. testaceus, Fab. Found in Ft·ance. One of the sons of that celebrated traveller and ornithologist, Le Vaillant, observing that Frogs and Toads are excessively fond of this Insect, procured numerous specimens by eviscerating those Reptiles( 2). Out· first division of the Scarabreides Arenicoli is terminated by those in which the antennre, as in the most of the subsequent Scarabreides, are composed of ten joints. The last joint of their palpi is elongated. The maxillary lobes are membranous. The labrum is less salient than in the preceding, or projects but little. The mandibles are not at all or but very slightly dentated. The epistoma is short, either arcuated and rounded, or projecting into an angle. They are very small Insects, whose thorax is destitute of horns. HYnosoRus, Mac Leay.-Carabreus, Geotrupes, Fab. The first joint of the antennre in the form of a reversed and elan· gated cone; the intermediate joint of the club entirely enveloped by the two others, as in the last subgenera; the tibire narrow and elongated; the epistoma rounded anteriorly(3). (1) Hor. En tom., I, p. 121; 8carab~u11 proboscideu11, Schreib., Lin. Trans., VI, p. 189. (2) Bolboceraa australaai~e, Kirb., Lin. Trans., XII, xxiii, 5;-the Scarab. quadridme, cyckptJ, and lazarus, Fab. (3) Hor. Entom., I, 1, p. 120; Geotrupe11 arator, Fab. |