﻿72 BRITISH BEETLES. 



by their mandibles not being toothed on the inner side, 

 their closed-up mouth, the sinyle claw at the apex of 

 their tarsi, and their two double-jointed anal forks, 

 which are beset with stiff hairs. The extremity of the 

 body is also produced into a fleshy tubular support. 

 They are very active and voracious, using their sharp 

 jaws with great effect, and sucking the juices of their 

 prey through them, after the same fashion as the larvae 

 of the Hydradephaga. 



Descriptions of the European species of Brachelytra 

 are to be found in the works of Kraatz, Thomson, and 

 Fairmaire above alluded to ; and an indispensable help 

 to the student of this group is afforded by the ' Genera 

 et Species Staphylinorum ' of Dr. G. F. Erichson (1839- 

 1840). This book contains descriptions, entirely in 

 Latin, of all the then known Brachelytra ; and is con- 

 spicuous for the way in which its lamented author seizes, 

 as if by intuition, upon those characters most useful in 

 comparison, and for the exact application of his varied 

 terms for differences of structure and colour. 



The beginner will find the insects of this group diffi- 

 cult both to determine and to set out properly. Care 

 must be taken in mounting them, not to rub off the pu- 

 bescence, gum the upper side, or distort the parts, as a 

 specimen thus maltreated is additionally hard to make 

 out. They are best set out soon after being killed ; and 

 must not be left in laurel, or else their limbs come to 

 pieces very readily on being manipulated. It is neces- 

 sary to have the abdomen displayed in its proper pro- 

 portions ; and this is no easy matter, as the rings usually 

 contract within each other at the instant of death : the 

 best way to counteract this, is to gum only the head, 

 thorax, and breast on the card at first, and, when these 



