AMERICAN COLEOPTERA. 209 



On the Aflinities of HYPOCEPHAI.IIS. 



BY JOHN L. LECONTE, M. D. 



[Read before the National Academy of Sciences, October 10, 1870.] 



Anion<r all Coleoptera known to science, there is none which has 

 provoked more discordant expressions of opinion regarding its position 

 and relationships than the genus Ht/pocephnhu. In form it is totally 

 unlike any other member of the order, resembling a fat mole-cricket, 

 (^GrijUotalpa)^ but with a yet larger prothorax, which equals in length 

 and bulk the hind part of the body. In other characters, as will be 

 seen by the detailed description given below, its affinities are of a very 

 varied and confusing kind, and the opinions at which I have arrived, 

 after a careful study and analysis of its structure, are quite different 

 from those which have been recently expressed. Before proceeding 

 to weigh the value of these details of structure, I shall give a full 

 description of the family and generic chai-acters, in the same form which 

 I have used in other memoirs on the Classification of Coleoptera. 



For an opportunity of studying at leisure an excellent specimen of 

 this insect, contained in the Brazilian Exhibit at the Centennial, I am 

 indebted to the courtesy of the Brazilian Commission, and the kind 

 influence of Prof. S. F. Baird. 



Family H YPOCEPHALID.E. 



Mentum transverse, twice as wide as long, rounded at the sides and 

 front, but slightly prominent at the middle; closely connate with the 

 gula by an almost obliterated suture. Gular support of the mentum 

 wide, inclined almost perpendicularly upwards, so as to make a very 

 prominent ridge on the under surface of the head. 



Ligula very small and narrow, impressed and hairy in front; bases 

 of labial palpi very large, almost contiguous, and immediately in front of 

 the mentum. Labial palpi three-jointed, nearly as long as the maxillar}' ; 

 condyle of first joint globose, fitting into the supporting piece which 

 is emarginate beneath, separated from the body of the joint by a 

 constriction ; body of the joint cylindrical, slightly thicker at the 

 distal end; second joint connected with the first by a small globose 

 condyle; body of second joint constricted at base, then gradually wider 



TRANS. AMER. ENT. SOC. T. (27) NOVEMBER, 1876. 



