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Show ·520 INSECTA. slender tow~rds t~e e.xtremity. ~he mandibles ~re always salient, the ligula IS b1fid or emargmatcd; the palp1 are short, the body is depressed and elongated, and the thorax almost square. These Insects are found under the bark of trees, and . may be reduced to a single genus, the CucuJus, ~'ab. • We distinguish CuouJus, properly so called, Where the antennre, much shorter than the body in several, are composed of obconical or turbiniform and almost granose joints, the first of which is shorter than the head( l ). DENDROPHAGus, Gyll.-Cttcujus, Fab. Payk. Where those organs are generally formed of elongated and cylin. drical joints, the first of which is longer than the head, and thesecond and third are shorter than the following ones. The labial palpi terminate in a club(2). ULEOIOTA, Lat.-Brontes, Fab. Where the antennre are analogous, but where the third joint is as long as the following one, and all the pal pi are smaller at the extre· mity. The mandibles of the species most common in France, the flavipes, and on which M. Dufour has made some anatomical ob· servations, are furnished, in the males, with a long and acute pro· longation resembling a horn(3). FAMILY IV. LONGICORNES. Here the under part of the three first joints of the tarsi~ furnished with a brush; the second and third are cordiform; the fourth is deeply bilobate, and there is a little nodule re· (1) The Cucuji clavipes, depressus, rufus, bimaculatus, piceus, testacem, ater, Oliv., Col., IV, No. 74, his. See also Gyllenh., Insect. Suec. (2) Gyllenh., Ibid. (3) Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., III, p. 25. See also Fabricius and Gyllen· hall, Ibid. COLEOPTERA. 521 sembling a joint( l) at the base of the last. The ligula, placed on a short and transversal mentum, is usually membranous cordiform, emarginated or. bifid, corneous and forming th; segment of a very short and transversal circle in others(2). . The antennre are filiform or setaceous, most commonly as long as the body at least; they are sometimes simple in both sexes, and sometimes serrated, pectinated, or 1labelliform in the males. The eyes of a great many are reniform and surround them at base. The thorax is trapezoidal or· narrowed before, in those where the eyes are rounded and entire, or but slightly emarginated; even in this case the legs are long and slender, and the tarsi elongated. M. Leon Dufour remarks, that in their alimentary canal, as well as in the disposition of their hepatic vessels, these Insects bear a general resemblance to the Melasoma-contrary to the opinion of M. Marcel de Serres, he denies the existence Qf a gizzard. The alimentary canal, most commonly covered with papillre, is preceded by a crop, but less or slightly marked in the Lamiru and Lepturre, which, accot•ding to our system, terminate this family. The testes are formed by distinct, pediculated, and tolerably large spermatic capsules or sacs, which vary in number according to the genus. As almost all their larvre live in the interior of trees, or under their bark, they are destitute of feet, or have but very small ones. Their body is soft, whitish, thickest anteriorly, and the head squamous and provided with stout mandibles, but without any other projecting part. They do much injury to trees, the large ones particularly, perforating them very deeply, or boring holes in them in every direction(3). Some of them attack the roots of plants. The abdomen of the (1) The Paraudra:, in this respect, perfectly resemble the Longicornes, and if this little nodule be considered as a true joint, not only this family, but the following one likewise, would belong to the section of the Pentamera. It may in fact represent the fourth joint of the latter, but as it has no peculiar motion, it is under· atood as forming pal't of the next. (2) Parandra. · (3) See the Nat. Hist. of the Lamia amputator, by M. Langsd. Quilding, Lin. Trans., XIII. VOL, Ill.-3 Q |
