84 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



and the neck scarcely ever distinct. The mentum is produced on 

 each side into a rounded lobe, the centre portion being deeply emar- 

 ginate, occasionally entire i^fig' 4. 8. Licinus), but generally with a 

 short spine in the centre of the emargination, Avhich is sometimes 

 notched at the tip (^fig. 3. 3.). 



This subfamily comprises a vast number of species, divided into 

 numerous genera by Bonelli and the more recent entomologists, 

 forming small natural groups, which are, nevertheless, very difficult to 

 characterise, their structure gradually passing into the adjacent forms, 

 so that it is almost impossible to fix their limits with any degree of 

 precision ; which difficulty is still further increased by the obscure 

 tints and slightly varying characters of the species. 



Latreille and Dejean have divided this subfamily into three groups, 

 which, from the structure of the anterior tarsi of the males (upon 

 which they are chiefly founded), they term Quadrimani, Simplici- 

 mani, or-pedes, and Patellimani. Mr. Stephens, however, considering 

 the impossibility of distinguishing genera from such a mode of dis- 

 tribution, when the females alone are known, has given a table 

 (jLllustr.Brit.Ent. Mand. vol. i. p. 67.) founded upon characters common 

 to the sexes ; the mentum, however, upon the variation in which he 

 has founded his chief divisions, is liable, as he himself admits, to con- 

 siderable variation. Moreover, the general results of this table are 

 similar to those of Latreille's mode of division ; whence I propose to 

 adopt the latter, especially as, in his later works, Latreille has added 

 other characters to distinguish his three groups. 



Messrs. Audouin and Brulle have noticed (without acknowledging 

 the observation as that of L. Dufour, Hech. Anat. Col. pi. 21*. 

 f. 3-5.) a peculiarity in the construction of the tarsi of the 

 Patellimani (Chlseniens), the males of which have the cushion-like 

 clothing of hairs on the under surface of the foot generally dis- 

 tributed over the sole of the tarsus {fig. 4. 6, 7.) In the Quadrimani 

 (Harpaliens) the dilated joints of the anterior male tarsi are furnished 

 beneath with a double series of narrow cushions, which, in H. rufipes, 

 appear to be fleshy and transversely striated, and to be destitute 

 of pilosity {fig. 4. 4, 5.). This character, although it may be sufficient 

 to separate the ChlaBniens from the Harpaliens, as suggested by 

 Messrs. Audouin and Brulle, does not, however, appear to be a fixed 

 character, being liable to much variation in the Feroniens ; thus, in 

 Abax striola, each joint is provided with a double hairy cushion, ex- 

 tending beyond the extremity of the joint {fig. 4. 3.) ; but in Broscus 



