Staph I/I hunce.'] STAPHYLiNiOiE, 221 



STAPHYLIXIN^. 



This sub-family contains, as at present constituted, about fifty genera, 

 which are very widely distributed ; if we include the many sub-genera 

 that have been formed by different authors, this number will be con- 

 siderably increased ; the Xantholininse have until comparatively recently 

 been included under the present sub-family, but tliey appear to be dis- 

 tinct, and it has therefore been thought best to follow Thomson and 

 Mulsant and Key in separating them on the characters afforded ])y their 

 approximate antennse and the presence of an antesternal piece situated 

 in the emargination of the prosternum, as well as by their more linear 

 and generally different form. 



The Staphylininse contain the most conspicuous members of the 

 family Staphylinidse, the genera Ocypus, Emus, CreopliiJas, Staphylinus, 

 and Velleius being especially noticeable ; some of the genera^ e.g. Phi- 

 lonfhus, are very numerous as regards species ; on the other hand, two or 

 three of our British genera, as Velleius, Euriiporus, and Acylophorus, 

 contain only one indigenous species which^ in each case, is very rare. 



In the StaphyliniufB the antennae are situated at the anterior margin 

 of the front, but differ somewhat in position in the two tribes into which 

 the sub-family may naturally be divided, viz. the Quediina and Staphj'- 

 linina ; the anterior coxae are large and conical ; the trochanters of the 

 hind legs arc prominent ; the tibise, at least the intermediate and 

 posterior pairs, are spinose ; the antenna3 are eleven-jointed and the tarsi 

 live- jointed in all the species belonging to our genera;* and the hind 

 body is more or less strongly margined, and is^ as a rule, capable of being 

 raised by the insect into a perpendicular position, or even curled over 

 towards the head. 



The larvae of the sub-family (including those of the Xantholininae) in 

 appearance and general shape bear a strong analogy to those of the 

 Carabidae ; the latter, however, have six ocelli on each side of the head, 

 the mandibles toothed, the outer lobe of the maxillae two-jointed, an(l 

 the tarsi furnished with two claws, whereas in the Staphylinin^ there are 

 only four ocelli on each side, the mandil)les are toothless, the outer lobe 

 of the maxilla? is not jointed, and the tarsi terminate in single claws ; 

 the larvae of the Dytiscidaj may be distinguislied from those of the 

 Staphylininoe by having six ocelli, and double claws, and by the man- 

 dibles being perforated, whereas the larvae of the Silphidae, which in 

 some ways are related to them, also possess six ocelli, and have a 

 distinct labrum, which organ is not visible in the Staphylininae ; in the 

 Histeridae., which together with the two last-mentioned groups have 

 jointed cerci, the ocelli are entirely wanting {vide Chapuis et Candeze, 

 Catalogue des Larves des Coleopteres, pp. 57, 58 ; Erichson, Gen. et 

 Spec. Staph., p. 15, &c.). The scuta of the thoracic segments in the 



* The geuus Tanygnathiis has the tarsi four-joiuted. 



