2 
GEO. H. HORN, M. D. 
greater reliance on other cliaracters which have far less value in a 
larger number of species. He again subdivides Negastrius, sepa- 
rating those s})ecies as Zorochrus which have the prosternal sutures 
double and excavate. If any division of Cryptohypnus be thought 
necessary, that based on the form of the prosternal sutures appears 
to be the only one desirable, from the fact that, between the two 
forms, the sharpest line of demarcation is observed. 
The existence of the double grooved sutures in a group of small 
species was first observed by Thomson, but cannot be used for generic 
separation as it would remove certain species from that close approxi- 
mation in which they should be placed. It has also been observed 
in our species of that series that the groove is far more distinctly 
defined in the female than in the male. It is in this group that very 
notable sexual peculiarities exist in the form of tubercles on the first 
or first two ventral segments in the males of Melsheimeri and caurimis 
respectively, or in a small ])ubescent spot at the middle of the second 
ventral in the female of c/radarms. In quadriguttatm (tetragraphii^) 
and dermestoides of Europe, the anterior tibiae are much broader in 
the male than in the female. These, too, have an elevation or tu- 
bercle on the first ventral segment of the male which seems to have 
escaped the notice of European students. 
Another sexual character has been observed in the two species 
with non-striate elytra. In the centre of the prosternum of the male 
is a small, densely punctured spot, bearing, in well-preserved speci- 
mens, a short brush of hair. 
One species, Httoralis, is notable in having much shorter legs than 
normal, the tibice beset with short, stiff, bristle-like hairs, after the 
manner of many arenicolous species. The tibial spurs are also better 
developed. In the species with the curved prosternal sutures the 
spurs are far less distinct than in those with straight sutures. 
It will be observed also that the terminal joint of the maxillary 
palpus varies in form, but without that degree of difference enabling 
the character to be used for systematic purposes. Illustrations will 
be found on the plate, to which the reader is referred. 
The species known to me seem to divide very naturally into groups, 
and it is proposed so to treat them to avoid the use of a long analytical 
table. 
They are, therefore, divided as follows ; 
Prosternal sutures straight, parallel, or very little convergent posteriorly 2. 
Prosternal sutures arcuate and very evidently convergent posteriorly 3. 
