218 NATURAL History BULLETIN. 
It is proper to say in conclusion, that in bringing out the 
monograph, the plan of the enterprise, the descriptions of 
the species, and the delineation of all the plates have been the 
work of the senior author, while the preparation of the matter 
for the press, its final redaction, belongs to the junior, 
The family Pselaphide, with which is here included the 
Clavigeride, ranges next to the Staphylinidz from which it 
differs by the prosternum invariably narrow, the large meta~ 
sternum and by the palpi always four-jointed. The abdomen 
has five or six flexible corneous ventral segments, the dorsals 
not, or very slightly, movable upwards but to a certain extent 
retractile; the middle coxe are rounded, the posterior trans- 
verse; the tarsi two or three-jointed. In the Staphylinidz 
the prosternum is variable in form, the metasternum smaller, 
the palpi four or five-jointed, the abdomen with seven or eight 
freely movable segments. The middle coxz are conical, the 
posterior variable in form, and the tarsi four or five-jointed 
except in the Oxytelini where they are three-jointed, and 
which group presents the nearest affinities to the Pselaphide. 
On the other hand this family approximates the Scydmeeni- 
dz, and shows also some relations with the Silphide. The 
Scydmeenide differ chiefly in the conical, distant posterior 
coxe, the longer elytra and the five-jointed tarsi. 
The Clavigeridz bearing in general the same characteristics 
as the Pselaphide, are distinguished by their imperfect 
embryonic forms, the antennz with six or less articulations, 
and by the structure of the abdomen. They are here treated 
as a subfamily. 
The Pselaphide present the following characters: mentum 
corneous, ligula membranous, with large paraglosse, labial 
palpi hardly visible. Maxille partly membranous and ciliated, 
their palpi always four-jointed, usually long. Antennz monili- 
form or clavate, not more than eleven-jointed. Prothorax with 
