76 INSECTS ABROAD. 



and the upper surface of the body is covered with very minute 

 punctures and fine down. This down extends even to the 

 antenna, and is longest towards the ends of the spines. The 

 head is rounded in front, short, and the eyes are yellowish 

 white. The body is flattened, and the elytra are of a rather 

 brighter colour than the thorax and head. This is one of the 

 small species, being under the third of an inch in length. It is 

 a native of Bengal. 



BRACHELYTRA, OR ROVE BEETLES. 



The systematic arrangement of insects is always a troublesome 

 matter. There are, it is true, certain groups which are tolerably 

 well marked by Nature ; such, for example, as those which have 

 already been described. But there are many others which are 

 vague and uncertain to the last degree, and even in the best 

 marked groups the boundary line is very undecided, while the 

 order in which they ought to come, and the relationship which 

 they hold to each other, are points which it is very difficult to 

 ascertain. Such is the case with the insects now before us. 



It is easy to see that there must be some connection between 

 the Rove Beetles and the Burying Beetles, but the exact succes- 

 sion of the connecting links has always been a matter of doubt. 

 In this work we cannot do better than follow the example of 

 the British Museum, and accept the arrangement of Lacordaire, 

 who traces the succession as follows: — First come the Brachelytra, 

 or Rove Beetles, followed by the Pselaphides, which have very 

 short elytra, almost exactly resembling those of the true Rove 

 Beetles. Then come the Scydm?enida3, and so to the true 

 I'.u vying Beetles; the remarkable blind insect called Leptoderus 

 being evidently the connecting link. 



The name Brachelytra, which is given to this group of insects, 

 is a very appropriate one. It is formed from two Greek words, 

 signifying " short wing-cases," and is given to the Beetles be- 

 cause their elytra, or wing-cases, aue so short that they seem 

 quite incapable of concealing wings which are large enough to 

 sustain the insect in the air. Yet, underneath these tiny elytra 



