COLEOPTERA. — BRACHELYTRA. 167 



occasioning considerable damage. Mr. Walford thouglit that this 

 larva was the Wire-worm ; but from its structure it is evident that the 

 conjecture of Marsham (in the supplementary note) and of INIessrs. 

 Kirby and Spence, that it belongs to some of the Staphylinida^, is 

 correct. In a paper upon the Staphylinidae, published in the ninth 

 number of the Zoological Journal, I described and figured three larvae 

 as the types of three of the divisions of this group of insects ; namely 

 that of Siagonium 4-corne, illustrative of the Omaliides {fig. 16. 12.), 

 *hat of Philonthus — ? illustrative of the Staphylinides, and another 

 larva which I considered to be that of Aleochara fuscipcs [fig. 16. 13.), 

 but which Mr. Kirby, from its broader form, thought was that oi one 

 of the Nitidulidse. Having, however, subsequently investigated the 

 subject more closely, I published an additional notice in the twelfth 

 number of the same work, wherein I detailed the reasons which in- 

 duced me to retain my former idea. Mr. George Waterhouse has 

 described and figured the larva and pupa of Quedius tristis Gra. in 

 the Entomological Transactions, No. 1. pi. 3. The former is long, 

 narrow; the head subquadrate, depressed, and rather broader than the 

 succeeding segments, of which the prothorax is the largest; the an- 

 tennae are 4-jointed; the mandibles long, curved, and entire; the 

 maxillae elongate, narrow, far apart from the labium, and furnished 

 with a small terminal lateral lobe, and with a short 4-jointed palpus ; 

 the terminal segment bears two rather short and slender articulated 

 processes. In the pupa state {fig. 16. 9.), all the parts are soldered 

 together ; the abdomen is straight ; the head and prothorax are sud- 

 denly bent forwards, the former touching the breast. Messrs. Kirby 

 and Spence have figured one of these larvae {Introd. vol. iii. pi. 18. 

 f. 6.) ; but the species is not recorded, neither is the figure character- 

 istic. 



Bouche has described and figured the larvae of Staphyl. aeneus and 

 variabilis, which resemble that of Quedius tristis, the anal appendages 

 being rather more elongated; also the larva of Xantholiiius punctatus 

 Gyll., which does not materially differ from the preceding, except that 

 the prothorax is smaller, and the abdomen rather broader ; also the 

 larva and pupa of Oxytclus morsitans Gyll. The head of the larva 

 {fig. 16. 14.) is small; the antennae short and conical, the third joint 

 having a small lateral appendage ; the jaws are bidentate, the abdo- 

 minal segments broader than those of the thorax, and the anal proleg 

 not perceivable. The pupa is small, and attenuated at the hind part 



M 4 



