BLAPS

A Fabric i an genus of Coleopterous insects, now the type of a family (Blapsida), characterized by the absence of wings; maxillary palpi terminated by a large hatchet-shaped joint,; body oblong and oval. All the species are of a dark or black colour, and have the elytra soldered together, and bent down at the sides of the aboomen so as to embrace that part. There ait tin British species of the genus Blaps proper, which are known by the trivial names of" darkling" or " church yard beetles," and are regarded by the vulgar of this and other countries as insects of evil omen.. [s. 164]