MEGALODACNE. 33 



Subfam. BACNIBES. 



This subfamily together with the Encaustides (which are not represented in the 

 New World) and the Triplacides form Lacordaire's first tribe " Erotylini engidiformes." 

 In this volume I adopt the secondary divisions alone as subfamilies without entering 

 into the question of a general classification, for which more mature study and the 

 comparison of the characters of a large number of genera (many of quite recent 

 introduction) would be needed. The first of this tribe — the Encaustides — are cha- 

 racterized by having the inner lobe of the maxilla? armed with one hook or "spine'' 

 at the tip ; it comprises species which are all of large size, and is confined to the 

 eastern tropical or subtropical regions. The Triplacides agree with the Dacnides in 

 having the inner lobe of the maxillae unarmed ; but are separated from them very 

 concisely by the shape of the apical joint of the maxillary palpi, this joint in the 

 Dacnides being conical or oval, or at most feebly securiform, while in the Tripla- 

 cides it is enormously widened, the width being often greater than the whole length 

 of the maxilla. 



In our region the subfamily Dacnides is represented by the genus Megalodacne 

 alone. The small species of the genus Bacne are found in the temperate zones 

 both north and south, predominating greatly in the former. Episcapha, Triplatoma, 

 Coptengis, and some other genera are, like the Encaustides, eastern-tropical species ; 

 while some genera which have been associated with them by Chapuis in his " Group I. 

 Engidites" are inhabitants of such distant regions as Australia and the island of 

 Madeira. It will be observed, however, that Chapuis includes in the group genera 

 with feet " pentamerous " and " subpentamerous " (the character upon which Lacor- 

 daire separated his equivalent divisions) ; and adopts a new character, viz. the 

 relative length of the basal joint of the maxillary palpi, for the separation of the 

 Triplacides. 



For a true classification it is evident we shall have to rely on more general consi- 

 derations than these, to which we are forced to admit many exceptions, 



MEGALODACNE. 



Megalodacne, Crotch, Cist. Ent. i. p. 141 (1873), and p. 415 (1876) ; Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 1873, 



p. 352. 

 Bacne, Lacordaire, Monogr. Erotyl. p. 63 (1842). 



This genus has representatives both in the New and Old Worlds, being, however, in 

 both nearly confined to the tropics. In North America and in Japan one or two 

 species extend as far north as lat. 40°. 



The close resemblance of species from such distant localities as South America and 

 the west coast of Africa is a very remarkable fact. 



biol. centk.-amek., Coleopt., Vol. VII., Becember 1887. F* 



