Brachi'lii.] STAriivLiNinyE. 153 



Australian, and tlivce Anu'riciu species, ami may iiltiuiaU-ly Ik; foiURl 

 to b(3 of laVyc extent. 



B. notha, Er. Short and broad, soinewliat ovate, luudy ami rather 

 sparingly pul)escent, shining black, or pitchy-black, with the apex (tf 

 basal segments of hind b(Kly sometimes lighter ; head broad, but much 

 narrower than thorax, eyes prominent, antennre moderately long, 

 thickened, fiiscous towards apex, basal joints reddish, penultimate joints 

 reddish; thorax very short, more than twice as broad as long, nearly 

 as broad as elytra, finely and indistinctly punctured ; elytra very trans- 

 verse, about as long as thorax, rather closely and distinctly punctured j 

 hind body fiat above and convex beneath, with sides rather strongly 

 and bluntly raised, the margins of the segments finely and indistinctly 

 l)unctured ; legs reddish-yellow. L. 2 mm. 



Male with each elytron furnished at apex near suture with a distinct 

 tubercle, apex of dorsal plate of seventh segment of hind body with a 

 notch in the middle. 



At roots of grass and beneath rejectaincnta on river banks ; has also boon taken by 

 sweeping herbage : very rare ; found at Chathtini uu the banks of the ^ledauy ijy Mr. 

 Brewer, and at Folkestone by Mr. Kye. 



G-VR0PKS:NA, Mannerheim. 



This genus contains about eighty species, of which Dr. Sharp has 

 lately described twenty from Central America (1. c, p. 25J-) : there are 

 about sixteen European species, eleven of which are found in Britain ; 

 the others are found in Ceylon, Austro-Malasia, Japan, and North and 

 South America, so that in all prol^ability the genus will prove_ to be 

 spread over nearly the wdiole world : all the species known inhabit 

 fungi ; they are distinguished by their short broad form, broad head 

 (which is usually short and has the eyes very prominent), and short 

 thorax and elytra ; they have the power of curling their hind body 

 over their thorax, but not so perfectly as the species belonging to the two 

 l)receding genera : Dr. Sharp is of opinion that the forests of tropical 

 America will be found to be the headciuarters of the genus, and points 

 out the curious fact that in the numerous tropical species the sexual 

 armature of the terminal segments of the hind body is as peculiar in the 

 female as in the male : in no genus is the sexual armature more im- 

 portant, perhaps, than in Gi/ropJuena, but in the European species the 

 females present no peculiarities ; in some of the tropical species the male 

 armature may be very similar, but in the females it is very dissimilar, 

 and so seems to separate the species. 



The following table may help roughly to distinguish the British 

 species, but some of them are very closely allied andrequire careful study: — • 



I. Head strongly transverse, suddenly and obliquely con- 

 tracted behind eyes, whieli arc very piomiuentj and are 

 separated Irom tbora.x by a very shoi t space. 



