OCR Text |
Show 478 INSECTA. inner extremity of their tibire. The head is not prolonged ante. riorly(l). In a natural order this would perhaps be the place for the Rhrebus of M. Fischer(2). In the others, where the antennre are always longer than the head and thorax, and where the legs are most commonly of the same thickness, the thorax is narrower than the base of the abdomen and somewhat narrowed behind, and the hooks of the tarsi are entire. CALorus, Fab.-Cerambyx, De Geer. Where the posterior legs, in both sexes, are the size of the others, or nearly so, and where the serrated antennre are inserted into an emargination of the eyes, with the second joint much shorter than the third, in the form of a knot and transversal(3). SrAREDRus, Meg. Dej.-Pedilus ?, Fisch. Similar to Calopus in the legs and insertion of the antennre; but these latter organs are simple, with their second joint obconicallike the third, and at least half as long( 4). DYTILus, Fisch.-Helops, Dryops, Necydalis, Fab.-lEdemera, Oliv. Where the legs are also of the same thickness, or nearly so, in both sexes, bnt where the antennre, always filiform, are inserted before the eyes. The elytra are qot subulate or abruptly narrowed towards the extremity( s). CEnEMERA, Oliv.-Necydalis, Dryops, Fah. Where the posterior thighs are strongly inflated in one of the sexes, where the antennre are usually long and smaller at the extre· mity, and the elytra suddenly narrowed near the cnd(6). The fifth and last tribe of the Stenelytra, that of the RHYN· CHOSTOMA, is composed of Insects, some of which, such as (1) Oliv., Encyc. Method., article Notltus. See Schrenh., Synon. Insect., I, iii, App., p. 8. (2) See the family of the Rhynchophora. (3) Calopus serraticornis, Fab.; Oliv., Col. IV, 72, 1, 1. (4) Oalopus testaceus, Schrenh., Synon. Insect., I, iii, p. 4-11;-Pedilusfmcul, Fisch., Entom. Imp. Russ., I, iv. . (5) Dytilus helopioides, lb., J, v, 1;-D. rufus, Ib., 2, and the CEdemer<e With simple thighs of Olivier. ( 6) The <Edemera: of Olivier with inflated posterior thighs, and subulate elytra. See Encyc. Method., article fEdemere. COLEOI.JTERA. 479 the first, are evidently related by the ensemble of their characters to the <Edemerre, while the others, in a natural series, appear to b~]ong to the family of the. Rhy~chophora. The head is considerably prolonged anteriorly m the form of an elongated snout or flattened proboscis, bearing the antennre at its base and before the eyes, which are always entire or unemarginate. These Insects form a single genus, that of MYCTERUS. Sometimes the antennre are filiform and the snout is not widened at the end; the thorax is narrowed before in the form of a truncated cone or a trapezium; the ligula is emarginated, and the penultimate joint of the tarsi bilobate. They are found on flowers, a habit indicated by the silky prolongation of the terminal lobe of their maxillre. STENOSTOMA, Lat. Charp.-Leptura, Fab. Where the body is narrow, and the thorax in the form of an elongated t1·uncated cone; the elytra are flexible, narrow, elongated and contracted into a point; the antennre are composed of long and cylindrical joints, and the maxillary palpi are terminated by an almost cylindrical joint, hardly thicker than the preceding ones( 1 ). MYoTERus, Clairv. Oliv.-Brucltus, Rhinomacer, Fab.-Mylabris, Schceff., Or Mycterus properly so called, where the body is ovoid, solid, covered by a silky down, and the thorax trapeziform. The abdomen is square, 1ong, rounded posteriorly; the antennre are composed of joints, mostly obconical, the complete number of which seems to be twelve, the eleventh or last being abruptly narrowed and acuminated, and the maxillary palpi are terminated by a larger joint in the form of a reversed triangle(2). Sometimes the antennre are terminated by an elongated club formeli by the lust three to five joints; the snout is much flattened, with a salient angle on each side before the extremity; the thorax is in the form of a truncated heart, narrowed posteriorly; the ligula is entire, and so are all the joints of the tarsi. (I) fEdemera rostrata, Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., II, p. 229; Sten.oatoma roalralum, Charpent., Hora: En tom., lX, 8; S. variegatum, Ih., 6; 8. variegata, Germ., Entom., Insect. Spec. Nov., p. 167. (2) Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., ii, p. 230, genus R!tinomacer. See Olivier, Encyc. Method., article Myctere. |