FORMICOMUS.—ANTHICUS. 221 
side in front, this part being clothed with very long erect bristles and visible from 
above. The elytra are almost smooth in some examples, and distinctly punctured 
in others. 
ANTHICUS. 
Anthicus, Paykull, Fauna Suecica, i. p. 253 (1798) ; La Ferté, Monogr. Anthic. p. 102 (1848) ; 
Lacordaire, Gen. Col. v. p. 596. 
Acanthinus, La Ferté, Monogr. Anthic. p. 186. 
Ischyropalpus, La Ferté, loc. cit. p. 141. 
This genus already contains upwards of 400 described species, and is represented in 
almost every part of the world.’ Leconte, in his monograph of the North-American 
species [Proc. Acad. Phil. vii. pp. 95-103 (1852)] enumerated fifty, of which ten were 
unknown to him; and since the publication of this the genus seems to have been 
almost ignored by American Coleopterists, though five species from California have 
subsequently been described by Boheman (Kongl. Svenska Freg. Eug. Resa, Ins. pp. 104— 
106), without the slightest reference to previously known forms *. We have now to 
enumerate exactly the same number of species (fifty) from within our limits, of which 
twenty-nine are described as new ; two only have hitherto been recorded from Central 
America. Thanks to the kindness of M. Réné Oberthiir, I have been enabled to study 
the La Ferté collection of Anthicide (which is still in an excellent state of preservation), 
and by this means to identify very many of our species; Dr. Horn and M. Sallé have 
also been kind enough to communicate named representatives of various North- 
American forms. I have also studied, for the purposes of this work, Marseul’s very 
extensive collection of Anthicide now in the Paris Museum. Many of the species of 
this genus are widely distributed, some extending from the United States into Central 
America, and others from Brazil &c. northwards to Guatemala or Southern Mexico; 
this may be due to their activity, combined with, apparently, carnivorous habits. ‘The 
majority of the Central-American representatives do not exhibit any marked peculiarity 
from those of Tropical South America or from those of the United States; two 
species, however, A. bactrianus and A. tumidicollis, differ from all others of the genus 
previously known in having the posterior portion of the thorax gibbous. The 
characteristic ‘Tropical-American subgenera Acanthinus and Ischyropalpus, La Ferté, 
are both represented within our region—the former by four, the latter by one 
species. A. albicinctus, A. bituberculatus, A. dromedarius, &c. are also characteristic 
of the warmer regions of the New World; and the A. odscurus-group of the United 
States, Central America, and the northern part of South America. Two species, 
A. foveiventris and A, crassicornis, have poner: stout antenne, and A. clavicurnis 
* The localities quoted in this work cannot be relied upon, as I have already remarked, some Chilian or 
Peruvian forms being recorded by Boheman from Panama or the Sandwich Is. ! 
