Anatomy of the Male Genital Tube in Coleoptera. 627 
as one family (= Silphidae s.1.) then this is more primitive 
than Staphylinidae, and we may distinguish the two by 
the presence of a basal sclerite in Silphidae which is 
absent in Staphylinidae. Of the other families included 
in the Brachelytra, Leptinidae and Platypsyllidae approxi- 
mate the Bathysciinae division of the Silphidae, while 
Pselaphidae, Scydmaenidae and Scaphidiidae approach 
Staphylinidae. Clambidae is highly specialised, but ap- 
pears nearest to the Bathysciinae; it is, therefore, a 
family long separated from the most primitive form of 
the Brachelytra. 
LEPTINIDAE 
PLATYPSYLLIDAE 
CLAMBIDAE 
BATHYSCIINAE SILPHINAE 
/ 
/ 
2 PRIMITIVE BATHYSCIINAE 
AFFINITIES OF THE STAPHYLINOIDEA. 
(8) SCARABAEOIDEA, OR LAMELLICORNIA. 
It is generally considered that this is one of the most 
distinct of the great divisions of the Coleoptera, and our 
investigations quite confirm this idea. At the same time 
much difference of opinion exists as to the families and 
their relations inter se, some naturalists considering Luca- 
nidae and Scarabaeidae as incapable of distinction, while 
others maintain that they have but little affinity.* Pro- 
bably the solution of the difficulty will be found by 
increasing the number of recognised families. Usually 
* See Escherich, Wien. ent. Zeit. xii, 1893, p. 265. 
