IS'i MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



Some would go to the Catheretidfe, others to the Cryptophagidse, 

 and others to Choleva and the Scaphidiidaa. The former of these 

 tribes seems to me nearer to the Nitiduhdse than the Engidae, and 

 may be regarded as opening a road from them to the Bracheljtra ; 

 the Cryptophagidoe appear much further removed, and are leading 

 towards the Dermestidai." Faun. Bor. Amen p. 107. 



The first family ScAPHiDiiOyE * (Scaphidiles Lafr.), is a small as- 

 semblage of insects of small size (Jiff' 9. 26. Scaphidium 4-maculatum, 

 9. 18. Choleva angustata), with long and slender legs, 5-jointed 

 tarsi (^gf. 9. 24. anterior, 9. 25. posterior tarsi of Choleva ; 9. 

 28. anterior tarsi of Scaphidium) ; the body oval ; the head de- 

 flexed ; the thorax broad behind, generally forming a continuous 

 lateral line with the elytra ; the mandibles triangular ; the max- 

 illte terminated by two lobes, the outer of which is sometimes 

 slender ; the antennae of moderate length, the club being 5-jointed 

 (^ff' 9. 23. antenna of Choleva, with the eighth joint smaller 

 than the two contiguous joints ; ^y. 9. 27. antenna of Scaphidium); 

 the labrum is transverse, bilobed in front {Jiff. 9. 19.) ; the mandibles 

 (j%. 9. 20.) triangular, with two minute teeth near the tip, and a 

 pilose lobe on the inside ; the maxillae with two elongated lobes and 

 subulated palpi (Jiff. 9. 21.); and the mentum conical, truncate ; the 

 labium emarglnate, and the palpi minute (Jiff. 9. 22.). The insects 

 are very active in their movements, as the length of their legs indi- 

 cates. They inhabit decaying fungi, rotten bones, &c., and are 

 generally to be found in the perfect state in the spring. 



The affinity of the genus Catops with Leiodes, and Choleva 

 with Agathidium, in the preceding family, Agathidiida?, has been 

 already pointed out ; the relationship of Choleva with Scaphidium, 

 although doubted by Mr. Spence, is confirmed by Latreille and Mac 

 Leay. Indeed it is surprising that Mr. Curtis, whose figures of the 

 mouth of Scaphidium and Catops confirm the latter affinity, should 



* BiBLOGR. REFEa. TO THE ScAPHIDIID^. 



Spence, Monogr. on Choleva, in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lontl. vol. xi. 

 Illiger, Kafer Preuss. vol. i. 

 Erichson. Kafer Brandenburg. 



Say, in Journal Acad. Sc. Philadelph. vol. iii. — Mem. Acad. Sc. Stockholm, 1824, 

 p. 149. ; and the works oi Stephens, GyUenlud, Paykull, ^■c. 



