54 [August, 



THE NITIDULID^ OP GREAT BRITAIN. 

 BY REV. W. W. rOWLER, M.A., F.L.S. 



The position of the NitidulidcB is somewhat difficult to determine ; 

 there is no doubt that thej have a connection with the Silphidce, both 

 in structure and also through the habitat o£ many of the members of 

 the family ; on the other hand, however, through Ips and Rhizophagus, 

 they closely approach the TrogositidcB {Nemosoma, &c.) ; in fact, Erich- 

 son classed the latter with the Nitidididce^ but they are separated off 

 as a distinct family by the different plan of structure of the maxillaB 

 and tarsi. Perhaps, as a whole, the Nitidulidce come in best between 

 the HisteridcB^ to which in many ways they bear a close relation, and 

 the Trogositidce ; and if the aberrant genus Micropeplus is to be 

 removed from the StapliylinidcB, as seems necessary, to the neighbour- 

 hood of the Nitidalidce, it cannot be better placed than immediately 

 after the Histeridce, as a connecting link between Onthopliilus and 

 the braohypterous genera of the Nitidulidce. 



The genus Byturus is often placed in the NitidulidcB. It ap- 

 j)roaches this family, as remarked by Professor Westwood, "iu its habiit 

 of frequenting flowers, and in the bilobed form of the third and minute 

 size of the fourth joints of the tarsus," but it recedes from it iii 

 several important particulars, notably in having the mandibles with 

 several teeth, and in the fact that the tarsi have the second and third 

 joints prolonged beneath into a membranous lobe. Dr. LeConte and 

 Dr. Horn (Classification of the Coleoptera of North America, p. 141)' 

 place this genus in the Dermestidce, at the same time noting the above! 

 pecularitics, and stating that the position of the genus has been much 

 disputed : — Erichson placing it in the Melyridw, Du Val in the TelmaA 

 topliiUdcB, Eedtenbacher and Lacordaire in the DermestidcB, and 

 YAQ^eiiViQiieY m the NitidulidcB ; according to the external skeleton i 

 it might perhaps be placed in the Mycetophagidcd. The following are' 

 the chief characteristics of the Nitidulid(B : — 



Head small, sunk into the thorax, which is usually emarginate ; forehead somi 

 times straight, sometimes emarginate, in some cases furnished with strong lobes m 

 each side {Amphotis, Soronia). Mentum very variable; usually narrow {Ip\ 

 Cryptarcha, Cercus) ; sometimes broad, almost semicircular {Cychramus) ; wit 

 anterior angles rounded i^Ips), or produced into a point {Nitidula), often bisinuaf 

 in front {Nitidula, Soronia), or contracted in front and behind, and forming a 

 obtuse angle in the middle of the sides {Omosita, Epurcea, Carpophilus) , or roundel 

 in front, and furnished with two sharp strong teeth in the middle of the anterici 

 margin, forming between them a deep emargination {Meligethes, Pria) ; the meic 

 turn consists of two pieces, the suture of which is more or less plain. Maxill 



