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Show 488 INSECTA. servations of M. Leon Dufour, with the highly interesting experiments of Dr Bretonneau of Tours, on the vesicating property of the Insects of this tribe and of several other Coleoptera, enable us to ari·ange these generic sections in a natural order, which differs but little from that we had already adopted. The latter gentleman has ascertained that the Sitares do not possess the property in question, and the former found but four biliary vessels in the satne Heteromera, instead of six which exist in the other Insects of this tribe. Independently of this, Sitaris resembles Zouitis in the whole ensemble of the organization, and these latter are contiguous to the Cantharides. These Insects thus occupying one of the extremities o£ this tribe, it is easy, by a comparative sturly of their other relations, to follow the series until we reach the opposite extremity-it accords with the progressive changes in the form of the antennre. In some, those of both sexes consist of hut nine joints, the last of which is very large and in the form of an ovoid head( 1); those of the males, as well as their maxillary palpi, are very irregular. The body is depressed. Such is the CEROOOMA, Geoff. Schreff. Fab. These Insects make their appearance during the summer solstice, and frequently in great numbers in the same spot; they are found on flowers, particularly on those of the wild Chamomile, the Mil· foil, &c. C. Scluefferi; Meloe Sch~f!eri, L.; Oliv., Col., III, 48, i, 1. Green or bluish-green; antennre and feet of a wax-yellow(2). In all the others, the pal pi are identical and regular in both sexes. The antennre usually consist of eleven joints, and when there is one or two less, they always terminate regularly in a club. The body is tolerably thick and the elytra are somewhat inclined. In these, the antennre, always regular and granose in both sexes, sometimes appearing to be composed of nine or ten joints(3), and never longer than half the body, here, terminate in an arcuated club, or are evidently larger at the extremity, and there, from the second joint, form a short, cylindrical, or almost fusiform stem. (1) All, the Insects of this tribe with clavate antenn:e, or such as are larger near the end, are foreign to New Holland and America. (2) See Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., II, p. 212; Olivier, Fabricius, Scha:n· herr, and Fischer, Entomog. Imp. Russ., 11, xli, 1, 2, 3, 4. (3) The two or three last ones appear to be confounded or intimately united, at least in the females; for the nt'ticulations of the club are more distinct in the males. COLEOPTEUA. 489 They form the genus Mylabris of Fabricius. Those, in which the two or three last joints of the antennre are united, at least in the females, and form an abrupt, thick, ovoid, or globuliform club, the extremity of which does not extend beyond the thorax, and in which the total number of joints in these organs is then but from nine to ten, form the subgenus HvoLEus, Lat.-Dices, Dej.-Mylabris, Oliv.(l) Those, in which these same organs, pt·oportionally larger, present in both sexes eleven very distinct and well separated joints, gradually enlarge, or only terminate regularly in an elongated club, and of which the eleventh or last joint, well separated from the preceding one, is larger and ovoid, constitute the · MYLADRis, Fab. Oliv. Lat. Or our Mylabris properly so styled. The respective length of the antennre varies slightly, and these modifications have an influence on the form of their joints, and principally the intermediate ones. These considerations appear to have induced M. Megerle-Dejean, Catalogue, &c.-to form certain species into the genus Lydus; but two of those which he places there-algiricus, trimaculatua-present to us a much less uncertain and more decided character: the inferior division of the hooks of their tarsi is pectinated, while in the other Mylabres it is simple. M. chicorii, L.; Oliv., Col. III, 47, I, a, b, c, d, e. Length from six to seven lines; black; pilose; an almost round yellowish spot on the base of each elytron, and two transverse and indented bands of the same colour, one near their middle, and the other before their extt·emity; antennre entirely and constantly black. I have occasionally found this species in the vicinity of Paris, but it is much more common in the south of France and other southern parts of Europe. Its vesicating properties are quite as active as those of the Cantharides of the shops. In Italy it is mixed with the latter, or even used alone. The Chinese employ the M. pustulatus-Oliv., Ibid;, I, f. and II, 10, b(2). (1) Mylabris impunctata, Oliv., Encyc. Method.;-M. argentata, Fab.;-M. lunata, Fab. ;-.11:( Bilbergii, Schamh. (2) For the other species, see Encyc. Method., article Mylabre; Schamh., Sy· non. Insect.; and Fischer, Entomog. Imp. Russ., II, xli, and xl, 5, 8-but these synonymes, notwithstanding the excellent Monograph of Hilberg, require areexamination. VoL. III.-3 M |