34 REVIEWS. 



aud Messrs. Von Kiesenwetter and Kraata, all of them already favourably 

 known by various contributions to the history of this order, or to systematic 

 Entomology. The division of labour in this case gives hopes that we may 

 see the accomplishment — neither hurried up at last, nor degenerate from 

 its origin — even of an undertaking under which the delicate health of the 

 lamented Erichson early succumbed. The three parts before us are Part I. 

 of Vol. I., the commencement of the Carabidae, by Dr. Schaum, and Parts 

 I. and II. of Vol. II., by Kraatz, embracing the Aleocharini. 



The genera of this tribe are separated by such subtle characters, that the 

 student may find himself sometimes compelled to renounce the direct in- 

 vestigation according to the method of Erichson's excellent Monograph, and 

 to betake himself to an empirical comparison of several alternatives, in or- 

 der to arrive approximatively at the place of the species he is investigating ; 

 uuless he can spare the time, and has also acquired the manual dexterity, 

 necessary for a satisfactory microscopical investigation of the oral organs. 

 Accepting, as we feel obliged to do, this difficulty as inseparable from the 

 great multiplicity and close affinity of the forms, the inconspicuous size and 

 little variety of secondary qualities, among the Aleocharini in particular, 

 we cannot deny to Kraatz praise for having availed himself, to the utmost, 

 of this imperative though difficult branch of investigation, for the better de- 

 finition of the genera, and the separation from them of sundry discordant 

 species. He has here subdivided the Aleocharini into three sections — I. 

 Genuini or Brachypalpi ; II. Gyrophamini ; III. Gymnusini. Under 

 the first of these, the following new genera are characterized — Stenusa 

 type Silusa rubra Er. ; Stenoglossa, type Homalota semirufa Er. ; Ischno- 

 glossa, including Aleochara prolixa Gr., &c. ; Leptusa, for species of Oxy- 

 poda and Homalota of authors, as Aleochara analis Gyll., Homalota piceata 

 Muls. &c. ; Thiasophila, Aleochara angulata Er., &c; Hom,oeusa, Euryusa 

 acuminata Masrkel ; Haploglossa, Aleochara pulla Gyll., &c. ; Dasyglossa, 

 Oxypoda prospera Er. ; Hygropora, Ox. cunctans Er. ; Ilyobates, Al. nigri- 

 collis Gr., &c. ; (the g. Callicerus Gr. is restored) ; Chilopora, Calodera longi- 

 tarsis Er., &c. ; Ocyusa, Oxypoda maura Er. ; Phlceodroma, anew species ; 

 Tomoglossa, Homalota luteicornis Er. ; Schistoglossa, Horn, viduata Er. 

 Of the Gyrophamini, Gyrophama lsevicollis of the Author now constitutes for 

 him a new genus Agaricochara. Lest any one should fancy that a multipli- 

 cation of genera so considerable as this may have left none of the old ones of 

 comfortable amplitude, we may refer to the genus Homalota, as it stands 

 here, with a hundred and forty-two species left for Germany alone. Possi- 

 bly the propensity of the author may be rather towards the separation of 



