32 Prof. J. C. Schiodte on the Tunnelling Coleopterous 



and the position of the coxse, according to whether they move 

 more on the surface and in daylight, or in darkness and under- 

 ground. In the first case, as in Oocytelus and Platystethus, the 

 eyes are finely granulated and naked, the middle coxse separated 

 from one another by a broad expanse of the sternum ; the whole 

 figure is flatter, the integuments with coarser sculpture and less 

 hairy. But in Carpalimus *, Haploderus, and Bledius the eyes 

 are coarsely grained, only fit for near vision, with lashes between 

 the facets ; the coxae are closely approximated to one another, the 

 general figure more cylindrical, the sculpture finer, and the hair 

 more abundant, finer, and closer. The pronotum is more smooth 

 and vaulted, in the same proportion as the animals are more 

 calculated for digging; in those which merely root on the sur- 

 face, the coxal muscles are weakei", and the prothorax is by ex- 

 ternal cavities relieved of so much of its inner space as is not 

 required for the neck and its muscles. Those which dig or root 

 in the ground have the tibise furnished with spines, whilst in 

 those which merely run about on the surface the tibise have fine 

 hairs. The organs of the mouth exhibit a more or less pro- 

 truding membranaceous labellum divided into two lobes, of 

 which either the external margin alone, or the internal alone, 

 or both margins are fringed or ramified, the ramifications being 

 in some cases several times subdivided ; besides, a kind of comb 

 of horny spines is placed at the base of the inner side of each 

 lobe, the two combs meeting in the middle of the labium. The 

 mandibles possess a large rough grinder, and a well-developed, 

 lobated, fringed or ramified inner lobe; its terminal part is 

 slender and provided with few teeth in Bledius and others, but 

 very powerful and with many teeth in Platijstethus, Haploderus, 

 and Carpalimus. The lingua is broad, with thin integuments, 

 more or less emarginate in front, the corners pointed or (in Car- 

 palimus) rounded ; the paraglossse are small, closely united with 

 the lingua, and do not show in front of its corners. In Bledius 

 alone the narrow fulcrum linguae reaches the anterior margin of 

 the lingua or protrudes in front of it as a ligula, carrying on its 

 truncated apex a row of pointed spines. 



The mutual relations of the principal genera of the group 

 would therefore appear to be the following ; — 



* Names suggestive of life under the bark of trees are not to be allowed 

 for animals living in moist places and in vegetable mould (cf. also Linn. 

 Philos. Botan. § 232, and Fabr. Philos. Entom. § 22), The names Haplo- 

 derus, Steph., and Carpalimus, Leach, ought therefore to be preferred 

 (though not originally sustained by real characters) to Phloeonceus, Er., and 

 Trogophlceus, Mannerh. 



