COLEOPTERA. HISTERID.'E. 183 



of the Lucanidae as L. alces. Their internal anatomy, also, as might 

 be expected, exhibits a much nearer approach to the Silphida;*, as 

 proved by Dufour and Latreille ; and, indeed, Hister possesses many 

 characters in common with Necrophorus. With some of the Byr- 

 rhida;, and especially with some new American species in my collec- 

 tion, allied to Nosodendron, they exhibit a close agreement in the 

 structure of the under side of the thoracic segments. The G. On- 

 thophilus presents some of the characters of Micropeplus, amongst 

 the Nitidulidae. The curious American genus Trypanaeus (Bostrichus 

 thoracicus Fahr., and Hister proboscideus Ph.) is also serviceable in the 

 pointing out other relations ; resembling, in its cylindrical body, and 

 the solid club of its antennae, some of the Xylophaga ; whilst the cor- 

 nuted thorax of the males calls to mind Sinodendron and some of 

 the Lamellicornes.t 



Mr. Kirby regards the Histerida; as an osculant group, and as the 

 "stepping-stone, on the one side, from the Necrophaga,and on the other, 

 from the Philhydrida to the Lameliicorn tribes ; but considers that they 

 diverge into two branches, one leading to the Coprophagous Lamelli- 

 corns, and the other to the Lignivorous ones, or Stag-beetles." (^Faun. 

 Atn. Bor. p. 122.) The species of this family are widely distributed, 

 inhabiting every quarter of the globe. Dejean gives about two hun- 

 dred species in his Neiv Catalogue, and there are about fifty inhabit- 

 ants of our own country. From their general similarity of form and 

 colours, their specific distinctions require minute examination. The 

 situation and number of the striae on the thorax and elytra, as well as 

 the denticulations of the tibi^, have been advantageously employed in 

 this respect. The memoirs of PaykuU, Drs. Leach and Erichson, are 

 especially to be referred to ; the last-named author divides the family 

 into three groups, from the structure of the presternum, the anterior 

 part of which is either of the ordinary form, or simply advanced 

 beneath the head, or furnished with an anterior lobe, which is simi- 

 larly advanced ; these groups are again subdivided by Erichson into 

 twenty-one genera. 



* The structure of the larva, it will also be observed, bears a much greater re- 

 semblance to that of the Necrophaga than it does to the Lamellicornes. 



-}• Mr. Kirby has also indicated this relation {Faun. Bor. A p. 123.). Figures Be. cv< c .* 

 of the G. Trypanaeus and of its trophi, will be found in Griffith's An. K. Ins. <V/tt,^ 

 pi. 48. and Gl. 



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