10 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



larger ; in the male very deeply and semicircularly excavated, 

 almost to the base, with a tuft of stiff bristles each side at the 

 front edge of the excavation ; in the female this segment is 

 flat, and meets the last dorsal at tip in the usual manner ; 

 on the sides the lateral upward extension of the 5th ventral is 

 very large, but the spiracle is visible ; the extension of the 

 4th and 3rd segments are much smaller, and imbricated upon 

 the 5th and 4th respectively ; the side margin of the 1st and 

 2nd is very narrow, and the side pieces of the metasternura 

 are scarcely visible ; the elytra are connate, with the lateral 

 groove of the inner face narrow and sharply defined, becoming 

 broader and indefinite at the posterior 4th ; on the inner face 

 are seen eight rows of punctures, corresponding to ridges of 

 tubercles on the back; the tarsi are 4-jointed, narrow, or at 

 least the third joint not wider than the others, deeply grooved 

 beneath ; the tibiae are truncate, without spurs, the front pair 

 a little incurved at tip in both sexes; claws simple, not 

 contiguous. The genera of this family are stated by Mr. 

 Jekel* to differ by the form of the eyes, some being 

 Cyclophthalmes, others Oxyophthalmes ; also, in the antennal 

 grooves, some being Obliquiscrobes, others Lateriscrobes. 

 The vestiture of the under surface of the tarsi varies in 

 different genera: in Psalidura they are spongy sericeous 

 beneath ; in others, ciliate or spinous. In other genera the 

 sexual characters are less remarkable than in Psalidura, and 

 will be found to consist chiefly in the division of the last dorsal 

 segment into two, as in the other families of the series. 



The Brachyceridae are restricted to Africa and the neigh- 

 bouring parts of Europe and Asia: they are stout insects, 

 with ventricose elytra, suddenly deflexed behind, and extend- 

 ing far upon the flanks, like the first tribes of Tenebrionidae, 

 which they also resemble in the large mentum, flat, filling 

 the whole of the buccal cavity ; the beak is short and stout, 

 thicker at the extremity, alike in both sexes; the antennal 

 grooves are wanting (Episus), or deep and directed down- 

 wards, almost confluent in the gular region (Brachycerus, 

 Microcerus) ; the antennae are short, straight, or feebly 

 geniculate, scape forming less than one-third the length ; 

 joints of the funiculus seven, rather short; club solid, 

 obcouical, truncate or subacuminate at tip ; eyes rounded or 

 * Ann. Ent. Soc. France, 1864, 544. 



