OCR Text |
Show 566 INSECTA. DAPsA, Zieg. Where the club of the antennce is narrow, elongated, and composed of joints, laterally remote, the last of which is almost ovoid(!). In the others the third joint is but little longer than that of the preceding and following ones. Several species are indigenous to Europe, and live in the Ly. copet·dons, or under the bark of the Birch and some other trees. ENDOMYOHus, Web'. Fab. Where the four palpi are thickest at the extremity; the three last joints of the antennre are separated laterally, are larger than the preceding ones, and compose a club in the form of a reversed triangle(2). LYOOPERDINA, Lat.-Endomychus, l<'ab. Where the maxillary palpi are also filiform; the last joint of the labials is larger than the preceding ones, and almost ovoid; the fourth and following ones of the antennre, to the ninth inclusively, are almost granose, and the two last in the form of a reversed tri· angle(3). FAMILY II. APHIDIPHAGI. This family consists mostly of Insects which have an almost hemispherical body, and a very short, transversal, and almost lunate thorax. Their antennre terminate in a compressed and obconical club, composed by the three last joints, and are shorter than the thorax. The last joint of the maxillary pal pi is very large and securiform, and the penultimate joint of the tarsi is profoundly bilobate. In the other Trimera of the same family, the joints of the III, p. 171-but, with the exception of theE. Kirbyanus, which, it appears to me, should be referred to Dapsa. (1) See Catalogue, &c., Dahl. Add th~ Eumorpua Kirbyanua, Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., I, xi, 12. (2) See Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., III, p. 72; Gyllenb ., Insect. Suec.; and the Catalogues of Dahl and Dejean. (3) See the above works, and the Insect. Spec. Nov. of Germar. COLEOPTJo:H.A. 567 tarsi are simple, and the penultimate at least . 1. 1 1 b" . • IS S tg lt y Ifid wh1ch, With som. e other characters ' cli5~ ;tingu"tsh es tl lese I nsects' from the Fungicolre. Here, the body i. s more or less thick ' and n ever muc1 fl 1 attened in the manner of a shield; the thorax is transversal· th h d · . . . . . ' e .ea 1s exposed; the antcn.nre consist of eleven chstmct Joints, the last of which ~ an obcomcal club. orm These Insects compose the genus COCCINELLA. LITHOPHILus, Frohl. Where the body i~ ovoid, the thorax strongly recurved laterally and narrowed posteriorly, and the penultimate 1 · . 01'nt o f th e tarl;t· , as well as the preecdmg one, is very slightly bifid( 1 ). In CoociNELL'A, Lin. Geoff. Fab. Oliv. Or Coccinella proper, the body is almost hemispherical, the thorax very sho1·t, almost lunate, the mat·gin not recurved or but ver slightly, and the penultimate joint of the tarsi profoundly bilobate.y Various species of this genus at·e extremely common on the trees and plants of our gardens, and frequently in our houses; they are known by the names of the Scarab~es hemispheriques or Tortues, Bete a Dieu, Vache a Dieu, Cow-bug, Lady-bug, &c. The figure of these Insects, which is frequently hemispherical, the number and arrangement of the spots on their elyt 1·a, that fot·m a sort of mosaick on a fulvous, yellow or black ground t~g~ther. with the, ~ivacity of their motions, render them easil; dtstmgut~hable. I hey arc among the first that appear in spring. 'When se1zed, they fold their legs against their body, and like the Chrysomclre, Galerucce, &c. expel a yellow mucilaginous humour of a penett·ating and disagreeable odour, f1·om the articulation of the thighs with the tibire. They feed on Aphides, their larvre, which in form and their metamorphoses greatly resemble those of the Chrysomelce, employing the same aliment. According to the observations of M. Leon Dufour, they &re provided with salivary vessels. (1) Litlwphilua rujicollia, Dahl, Catal., p. 44; Tritoma connatum, Fab. This genus would perhaps be placed more naturally near Triplax, Fab.; but in the antenure it also approaches the Coccinella:. Count Dejean arranges it among the llcteromcra. |