COLF.OPTERA. BUACHELYTRA, 163 



which are of a large size, are closely folded when at rest (^fig. 15. i. 

 Stapliylinus erythropterus, with one wing expanded); the head is 

 large, and generally exserted ; the jaws are very powerful ; the outer 

 lobe of the maxilla? is not palpiform, although with evident traces of 

 articulation ; the antennae are rather short, and either of equal thick- 

 ness throughout, or thickened towards the tips, which are not dis- 

 tinctly clubbed, as in the Necrophaga ; the thorax is as broad as the 

 abdomen ; the anterior coxae are greatly developed, giving an increased 

 motion to the forelegs ; the legs are robust, and the anterior tarsi are 

 often dilated in the males ; the abdomen, from being uncovered by the 

 elytra, is of the same consistence on the upper as on the under 

 surface, and from its length it is capable of great motion, and is em- 

 ployed in folding and unfolding the wings ; the extremity of this part 

 of the body is furnished with two vesicles capable of being protruded 

 at will, consisting of two conical fleshy points clothed with hair, from 

 which a vapour is emitted which is occasionally very unpleasant. 

 Thus Mr. Kirby (^Mon. Apum. Angl. vol. i. p. 136.) states that the 

 scent emitted by Staphylinus brunnipes Fab. is a most singular mix- 

 ture of the odour of spices with something indescribably fetid. Leon 

 Dufour has given an account of the apparatus whereby this is secreted 

 in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, vol. viii. p. 16. 



It is impossible at the present day to ascertain what was the real 

 Staphylinus of the ancients. Gaza, indeed (but carelessly, acccording 

 to MoufFet), asserts it to have been"a kind of carrot ; but Absyetus, a 

 Greek writer, expressly mentions the Staphylinus as creeping about 

 pastures with its tail elevated, as well as the noxious scent which it 

 emits, which he tells us produces tumours in horses which may 

 happen to have taken one into the mouth with their food, and for 

 which Mouffet with great gravity gives a long remedy. The Staphy- 

 linus is also assimilated to the Spondylus, which Mr. MacLeay also 

 considers to have been smaller Staphylinidae allied to Goerius olens. 



In the Linnajan system these insects immediately preceded the 

 Earwigs, which were placed at the end of the order Coleoptera; but 

 their habits and structure evidently point out their affinity with the 

 Silpliidoc, some of which have also the elytra abbreviated, and not en- 

 tirely covering the abdomen. This affinity is especially evident in the 

 largest species of each group, such as the Goerius, Emus, Sec. 

 amongst the Brachelytra, and Nccrophorus and Necrodes amongst the 

 Necrophaga ; a circumstance of considerable interest as regards the 



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