"252 NOTES ON CILLENUM LATERALE. 



sandhoppers (Talitrus Locusta, Leach,) seizing them by the 

 soft parts of the underside, and, in this way, are able singly to 

 master game many times their own bulk. Sometimes three or 

 four beetles may be found in concert attacking a sandhopper 

 of the largest size. The tide retiring has scarcely uncovered 

 the sand, when these little depredators are abroad from their 

 hiding-places and alert in the chase. A great part of their 

 existence is passed under the sea, and the mode in which they 

 obtain the necessary supply of oxygen during their prolonged 

 submersion, when the small quantity in the air-bubble which 

 they may convey with them is exhausted, seems to deserve a 

 more particular investigation.^ It was at the same time and in 

 the same situations that I detected the small brachelytrous 

 beetle, which I have named and characterised below, sup- 

 posing it to be undescribed. It is evidently allied to the genus 

 Gymnusa (Karsten,) but while the latter assumes the appear- 

 ance of the adjoining family Tachijporidrv, the present has 

 more the air of the Oxytelidw.^ The peculiar character of the 

 mouth is more developed than in that genus, the appendages 

 of the labium retaining nothing in their form to recall their 

 typical function as palpi. 



Gen. — DiGLossA. 



Os rostraUtm. Palpi ruaxillares elongatl ; articulo S sicbclarato, 

 4> ohsoleto : palpomm lahialium loco lacinice 2 setacew os 

 superantesj antennce extrorsum nix incrassatw, articulo 2 

 longissimo : thorax postice attenuatus : abdomen lineare : 

 tarsi 4<-articulati, articuo unguiculare subwqtiali. 



Sp. 1. Diglossa mersa (Long. 1 lin.) 



Dull black, slightly pubescent ; head, thorax, and elytra minutely 

 punctulate : palpi and legs dusky ferruginous, the middle of the 

 shanks, the thighs, and antennae darker, the mandibles and feet 

 lighter : head rounded at the sides, without a distinct neck ; eyes 

 minute : antennas rather longer than the head and thorax, slender, 



a Consult on this head the remarks on Aepus fulvescens. a species of similar 

 habits, by Mr. Audouin. (Nouv. Annales du Museum, iii. 117.) 



b Observe the facts recorded in this Magazine, Vol. II. p. 180, relative to the 

 submarine habits of Hesperophilus. 



