40 ANNULOSA JAVANICA. 
Fam. 8. NITIDULIDZE. Nurinvtariaz Lat. 
The larvee of this family resemble those of the last very closely, as may be seen on inspect- 
ing the figure of the larva of Mitidula varia Fab. (Silpha grisea Lin.) given by the late Mr. 
Curtis, in the second volume of the Linnean Transactions. ‘This larva seems to live on putrid 
vegetable matter. 
The perfect insects of the family are to be found in almost all substances, some inhabiting 
flowers, and others carrion. “They differ from the Silphide by their mandibles being biden- 
tate at the apex, and in general by their anterior tarsi having the three first joints dilated. 
From the Engid@ they may be distinguished by their more peltate form and transverse thorax. 
Genus NITIDULA. Fab. 
77. Prera. N. ovalis, fronte bipunctatd, clypeo truncato, elytris punctulatis : striis elevatis setigeris. 
Long. corp. ¥7,. 
Oss. Species N. grisee Lin. (N. varie Fas.) simillima, at brevior ct convexior. Caput ferrugineum pune- 
tulatum fronte utrinque fossula impressa, clypeo antice truncato, labro emarginato. Thorax ferrugineus punc- 
tulatus pilis albis raris vestitus. Elytra nigro ferrugineoque varia. 
Fam. 4. ENGIDZE. 
The typical insects of this family differ in general from those of the last by their elongate form, 
or by the semi-lunar termination of their maxillary palpi, and minuteness of the penultimate joint 
of their tarsi. In the genus Cryptophagus the sexes may be distinguished by a difference in the 
number of joints of their posterior tarsi. And if Mycetophagus, and even Triplax, belong to this 
family, as I suspect they, with their immediate affinities, will be found to do, then tetramerous 
insects belong to the stirps of Necrophaga as well as to the Philhydrida. Accurate examination, 
however, seems to prove that such insects are not truly tetramerous ; the penultimate joint of 
the tarsi, which is so minute in Hngis, becoming in Triplax only more evanescent. The manner 
in which this change is effected, becomes manifest on comparing the genera Ips, Engis, Triplax, 
and Erotylus. The connexion existing between these, no ene can doubt, and, indeed, M. La- 
treille long since remarked it. I am not however prepared to say, that the Erofyli fall into 
this tribe ; but if they should eventually be proved to have this situation in nature, it will be 
another instance of that manifest relation which exists between the stirps of Necrophagous 
insects and the Linnzean genera Cassida, Chrysomela, and Coccinella. It is, perhaps, by the 
Erotyli that the opposite points of the circle of Coleoptera meet, for I do not think that this genus 
will go well among the true insects with anopluriform larvae. As to the Erotyli being tetra- 
merous, it is a circumstance to which little importance ought to be attached, since the five 
articulations of the tarsi are visible in several species, and other insects which are close to the 
genus, such as Mr, Kirby’s genus Spheniscus, are heteromerous. 
Phaleria and its affinities seem also to have a faint relation to these insects, as well as Cerylon 
Sylvanus, &c. But without estimating the degree of importance that ought to be attached to such 
relations, Ishall not at present attempt to do more than indicate them, since the true limits of 
this 
