328 INSECTA. 



They also approximate, in some respects, to the Insects of the pre- 

 ceding family, and to the Silphae and Necrophori, (genera of the 

 fourth) in many others. They commonly have a large, flattened 

 head, stout mandibles, short antennae, a thorax as wide as the abdo- 

 men, and the elytra truncated at the extremity, but still covering the 

 wings, which preserve their usual extent. The semi-annuli of the 

 top of the abdomen are as scaly as those of the venter. The vesicles 

 of the anus consist in two conical and pilose points, which are pro- 

 truded and retracted at the will of the animal; a subtile vapour 

 escapes from them, which, in some species, has a strong odour of 

 sulphuric ether. M. Leon Dufour, Ann. des Sc. Nat. VIII, p. 16, 

 has described the apparatus which produces it. The last segment 

 of the abdomen, that which contains the anus, is prolonged and ter- 

 minates in a point. 



These Insects, when touched, or while they run, elevate the ex- 

 tremity of their abdomen and flex it in every direction. They also 

 use it to push their wings under the elytra. The tarsi of their two 

 anterior legs are frequently broad and dilated, and their coxae as 

 well as those of the intermediate legs are very large. They are 

 usually found in earth, dung, and excrementitious matters; some live 

 in mushrooms, rotten wood, or under stones; others are only met 

 with in aquatic localities. Some very small ones keep on flowers. 

 They are all voracious, run with great swiftness, and take wing very 

 promptly. 



The larva bears a close resemblance to the perfect Insect: it has 

 the figure of an elongated cone, the base of which is occupied by 

 the very large head; the last ring is prolonged into a tube, and is 

 accompanied by two conical and hairy appendages. It feeds on the 

 same matters as the perfect Insect. 



The first stomach of the Staphylini is small and without plicae; 

 the second is very long and pilose; the intestine is extremely short(l). 



It is a very extensive genus, which we will divide into five sec- 

 tions. 



In the first, or that of the Fissilabra, the head is completely ex- 

 posed and separated from the thorax, which is sometimes square 

 or semi-oval, and at others rounded, or cordiform and truncated, 

 by a neck or sensible strangulation. The labrum is profoundly cleft 

 and forms two lobes. Such is the 



(1) According 1 to M. Dufour, the only essential difference between their alimen- 

 tary canal and that of the carnivorous Coleoptera consists in the absence of the 

 crop. Their biliary vessels are inserted at the same lateral point, and, at least in 

 some species, present near the middle, a knot or vesicle, not observed in any other 

 Insects. Their sexual apparatus differs greatly from that of the carnivorous Co- 

 leoptera. See Ann. des Sc Nat., Octob. 1825. 



