Groups of the Bracheli/tra. 65 



and at which the insects of both groups are of a dilated form : 

 and thus to complete tlie circle.* 



Whether the four remaining F&mWies^ xiz.Staphi/lmidceySienidce, 

 TachyporidcB^ and Pselaphidce^he perfectly natural ones, I am not 

 prepared to say ; they however certainly appear to me to be so, 

 and I shall here only endeavour to shew the points of connexion 

 between some of the groups. 



Gyllenhall, (Ins. Suec. 2. 372) speaking of the genus PcederuSy 

 which belongs to the Stenidce^ (Longipalpesy Lat.) says " In 

 ipso apice articuli tertii palporum anticorum, interdum acumen 

 minutum observatur, quod forte praesentiam articuli quarti licet 

 retracti den/>tat ; quare hac in re, generi praecedenti (Lathrobium.) 

 nimis affines sunt Pwderi" — And Lathrobium is placed by La- 

 treiile in his Section Fissilabres (Staphylinidce^ MacL.) — As to 

 the PselaphidcE, Latreille, (Regne Anim. 3. 364) says, they have 

 " une grande affinite avec les Aleochares." — 



The connexion between the Brachelijtra (the last and certainly 

 the most aberrant Stirps of the Chilopodomorphd) and the terres- 

 trial Adephaga (the first and normal Stirps of the same tribe) 

 evidently takes place, as Mr. MacLeay has observed, in the Ann. 

 Jav. at the genus Lesteva (Anthophagus, Gyll.) and I shall add 

 Gyllenhall's remark on this affinity : '' Generi Lebce quoad- 

 modo similes et affines sunt hujus Generis (Anthophagi) Species; 

 ideoque familiara praecedentem (Carabidce) cum praesenti (Brache- 

 li/tra) conjungunt" (Ins. Suec. 2. 191.) 



I cannot quit the present subject without directing the atten- 

 tion of British Entomologists, to a circumstance connected with 

 the Bracheli/tra, which is mentioned in Dallman's work above re- 

 ferred to, and which has I believe never yet been noticed in any 

 English work (See Note 3). And as Dallman's work has not yet 

 found its way into every one's hands, I am sure I need not apolo- 

 logize for quoting the passage. 



* In the genus Elonium no sternmata are visible, and the consequent affinity 

 to Oxytelus, which I regard as the type of the other section, is certainly very 

 obvious — while on the other hand Eveesthetus does possess sternmata, thus 

 clearly demonstrating its affinity to Omaliutn. 



Vol. III. E 



