68 Mr. D. Sharp ow the 



quite a new, and a most important, factor into the treat- 

 ment of this problem, and, seeing that Amphizoa agrees 

 with certain Carahidfe as well as with most of the 

 Dytiscida by the peculiarit}' I have alluded to, I think it 

 will be a quite natural course to treat it as an aggregate 

 (not as a family) occupying an intermediate position 

 between Carahidce and Di/tiscidce, but a member of 

 neither. 



The last family placed by Dr. Horn in the Adephagous 

 or Carnivorous series is the Giirimdce, and at the end of 

 his memoir (p. 187) he has placed a special short note, 

 in which he states that "the structure of the external 

 skeleton, as well as the mouth parts, seem to be so 

 plainly adephagous as to leave no room for doubt." 

 This rather positive affirmation is, however, scarcely 

 justified by the definition and facts Dr. Horn gives us at 

 the commencement of his essay, where he tells us 

 {op. cit., p. 91), "the adephagous series of Coleoptera is 

 readily recognised by the predaceous character of its 

 mouth parts, its slender antennae (except in Gyrinidce), 

 pentamerous tarsi, and the structure of the first abdo- 

 minal segment, which is in all cases divided or hidden 

 by the posterior coxae in such a manner that it is entirely 

 lateral, rarely appearing as a small triangular piece 

 between the posterior coxre." Thus we are presented 

 with four characters as justifying the introduction of an 

 aggregate into the Carnivorous series, and a little con- 

 sideration will show that by none of these characters is 

 the place of the family Gi/yinidce indicated as being 

 clearly in the series in question. 1st. As regards the 

 mouth, it is well known that the trophi of Gyrinidce 

 depart very widely indeed from the Carabidce and Cicin- 

 delidce, the lower lip is of very much inferior develop- 

 ment, and only to a slight extent of the predaceous type, 

 and the maxillge are either entirely destitute of the outer 

 lobe, or when it is present, possess it undivided, and thus 

 this family is very far indeed from agreeing with the 

 other Carnivori in the mouth structure. 2nd. As regards 

 the antennae, nothing can well be more different from the 

 setaceous or filiform adephagous antenna than is the 

 highly peculiar antennal organ of the Gj/rinidce ; but as 

 Dr. Horn himself alludes to the fact that the Gi/rinidce 

 are an exception in this respect, it is useless to deal more 

 at length with this point. 3rd. TheiJentamerous tarsi: 

 though the AdepJiaf/a possess generally (but not always, 



