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Show 492 INSECTA. are not abruptly subulate near their posterior extremity, and where they completely cover their wings. In TETRAONYX, Lat.-.8.palus, Fab.-Lytta, KHiJ:, The max.illre, as in Cantharis and Zonitis, are not prolonged ancl terminated by a silky thread, and curved inferiorly. The penultimate joint of the tarsi is emarginated or almost bilobate, and the thorax forms a tt·ansverse square. These Insects are closely related to the Canthaddes, and are peculiar to the western continent(l). CANTHARis, Geoff. Oliv.-Meloe, Lin.-Lytta, Fab. All the joints of the tarsi entire, and the thorax almost ovoid, slightly elongated, narrowed anteriorly and truncated posteriorly, by which this subgenus is distinguished from the preceding one, The second joint of the antennre is much shorter than the following one, and the last of the maxillary pal pi is evidently larger than those that precede it. The head is a little wider than the thorax. These characters distinguish it from Zonitis. The antennre of the males are sometimes irregular and even semipectinated. C. vesicatorius; Meloe vesicatorius, L.; Oliv., Col. III, 461 I, I, a, b, c. (The Spanish Fly.) From six to ten lines in length, of a glossy golden-green, with simple, regular, black antenn~. This Insect, well known from its medical uses, has furnished M. Victor Audouin, with the subject of an excellent Memoir published in the Ann. des Sc. Nat., IX,. p. 311 pl. xlii andxliii; he there minutely describes its anatomy, the external sexualdif· ferences which had hitherto remained unnoticed, its mode of copulation, &c. Excellent figures, drawn with the greatest care by Guerin, give additional value to these interesting facts. This Insect appears in France, near the time of the summer solstice, and is more particularly found about the Ash and Lilac, on th~ leaves of which it feeds; it diffuses a highly penetrating odour. The larva lives in the ground and gnaws the roots of plants. In the United States of America, the species called by Fabricius the vittata, and which abounds on the potato plants, is applied to the same uses as the one of which we are speak· ing(2). (1) Lat., Zool., and Anat., of Messrs Humboldt and Bonpland, pl. xvi, 7;.! l.palus quadrimaculatus, Fab.; Lytta bimaculata, !Wig, Spec. Entom. Brasil., XLI, 10;-Lytta sex·guttata, KlUg;-Lytta crassa, ejusd., XLI, 12. (2) See Fabricius, Olivier, Schrenherr; the Entomog. Imp. Russ. of Fischer; the Spec. Entom. llras. of KlUg, and the Insect. Spec. Nov., Germar. COLEOPTERA. 493 ZoNITis, Fab.-.llpalus, Oliv. The antennre, those of the males particularly, more slender than in Cantharis, and the length of their second joint at least equal to half that of the third. The maxillary pal pi are filiform, and the last joint is almost cylindrical. The head is somewhat prolonged anteriorly, and is the width of the thorax. These Insects are found on flowers( I). The males of the two following subgenera present a truly insulated character: the terminal lobe of their maxillre is extended into a sort of thread, more or less long, silky and curved. Such is NEMOGNATHus, Lat.-Zonitis, Fab. Where the antennre are filiform, with the second joint shorter than the fourth; the thorax is almost square, or rounded laterally(2). GNATHIUM, Kirb. Where the antennre are somewhat larger towards the extremity, with their second joint almost as long as the fourth. The thorax is bell-shaped, and narrowed anteriorly(3). Finally, the last subgenus of this tribe, or SITARis, Lat.-.llpalus, Fab. Is remarkable for the abrupt narrowing of the posterior extremity of the elytra, which exposes a portion of the wings. Independently of this, these Insects bear a close resemblance to Zonitis, living in their larva state, like those of the latter subgenus, in the nests of some of the solitary Mason Bees. In Jlpalus, Fab., properly so called, the elytra are somewhat less narrowed, and the internal extremities of the joints of the antennre are slightly dilated in the manner of little teeth( 4 ). (1) The Zonitis of Fabricius, those species excepted which belong to the following subgenus. See also Encyc. Method., article .!lpale. (2) The Zonitis chrysomelina, rostrata, and vittata, Fab. See Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., IT, p. 222. t3) GnatMum Francilloni, 1\irb-., Lin. Trans., XII, xxii, 6. This subgenus, from the form of the antennce and that of the thorax, should come directly after that of Cantharis. The tribe should be terminated by Sitaris and Zonitis. (4) See Lat., Ibid, p. 221; Schrenh., Synon. Insect., I, ii, p. 341;-.llpalus bimaculatus, Fab. ~lessrs Lepeletier and Serville, in the Encyc. Method., article Sitaris, ~e.n~ion a new genus, Onyctenus, allied to the preceding, but in which one of t~e dtvtstons of the books of the tarsi is dentated. The Lydus of Megerle and DeJean, as we have already seen, presents the same character. |
