334 INSECTA. 



isometrical, as wide as the head, and narrower than the elytra; the 

 antennae usually filiform, with elongated joints(l). 

 There the palpi are subulate. 



Micropeplus, Lat. 



Antennae terminating in a solid club, and lodged in fossulse of the 

 thorax(2). 



Proteinus, Lat. 



Antennas granose, somewhat perfoliaceous, and larger at the end, 

 but clavate, always exposed, and inserted before the eyes; thorax 

 short; elytra covering the greater part of the abdomen(S). 



Aleochaea, Grav. 



The antennae inserted between the eyes or near their inferior mar- 

 gin and exposed at base, with the three first joints evidently longer 

 than the following ones, which are perfoliate, the last elongated and 

 conical; thorax nearly oval, or a square rounded at the angles(4). 



In the fifth section Microcephala the head is plunged poste- 

 riorly into the thorax, nearly up to the eyes; it is neither separated 

 by a neck, nor by a visible strangulation; the thorax forms a trape- 

 zium, and is widened from before backwards. 



The body is less elongated than in the preceding section, and ap- 

 proaches more to an ellipsis; the head is much narrower, contracted 

 and projected forwards, and the mandibles are of a moderate size, 

 edentated, and simply arcuated at the point. The elytra, in several, 

 cover rather more than the half of the length of the top of the ab- 

 domen. Some live on flowers and mushrooms, and others in dung. 

 Fabricius placed several species among the Oxypori. 



(1) SeeLatr., Gener. Crust, et Insect., I, 296, 297; Gravenhorst and Gyllenhal, 

 genus Anthophagus. 



(2) See Lat. Gener. Crust, et Insect., IV, 377; Omallum porcatum, Gyll., In- 

 sect. Suec, I, pars II, p. 211; Micropeplus porcatus, Charp., Horae Entom., VIII, 

 9; 0. staphylinoides, Gyll., lb. p. 213. 



(3) See Lat., lb. I, p. 298, and the Omul, ovatum and macropterum of Graven- 

 horst. 



(4) Staphylinus canaliculaius, Fab.; Panz., lb., XXVII, 13; Staphylinus im- 

 pressus, Oliv., Col., lb., v, 41; S. boleti,lu.; Oliv., Col., lb., iii, 25; S. collaris, 

 ejusd., lb. vi, 53; S.socialis, ejusd., lb., iii, 5, and generally the three first fami- 

 lies of the genus Aleochara, of Gravenhorst, Col. Mic, II; See also Gyllenhal, 

 Insect. Suec. I, pars II, p. 377. We should remark, however, that neither this 

 author nor Gravenhorst has assigned clear and rigorous characters to the Aleo- 

 charae and Lomechusse; both these genera demand revision. 



