COLEOPTERA. 419 



Proteinus, Lat. 



Antennae granose, somewhat perfoliaceous, and larger at the end, 

 but clavate, always exposed, and inserted before the eyes ; thorax 

 short ; elytra covering the gi-eater part of the abdomen *. 



Aleochara, Grav. 



The antennae inserted between the eyes or near their inferior mar- 

 gin and exposed at base, with the three first joints evidently longer 

 than the following ones, which are perfoliate, the last elongated and 

 conical ; thorax nearly oval, or a square rounded at the angles f . 



In the fifth section — Microcephala — the head is plunged poste- 

 riorly into the thorax, nearly up to the eyes ; it is neither separated 

 by a neck, nor by a visible strangulation ; the thorax forms a trape- 

 zium, and is widened from before backwards. 



The body is less elongated than in the preceding section, and ap- 

 proaches more to an ellipsis ; the head is much narrower, contracted 

 and projected forwards, and the mandibles are of a moderate size, 

 edentated, and simply arcuated at the point. The elytra, in several, 

 cover rather more than the half of the length of the top of the ab- 

 domen. Some live on flowers and mushrooms, and others in dung. 

 Fabricius placed several species among the Oxypori. 



LoMECHusA, Aleochara, Grav. 



No spines on the tibiae ; the antennae, from the fourth joint, form- 

 ing a perfoliaceous mass, or elongated and fusiform ; palpi subulate ; 

 antennae frequently shorter than the head and thorax J. 



Tachinus, Grav. 



Tibiae spinous ; antennse composed of pyriform joints, and insen- 

 sibly enlarging ; palpi filiform §. 



* See Lat., lb. I, p. 298, and tlie Omah ovatum and macropterum of Gravenhorst. 



-f- Staphylinus canaliculatus, Fab. ; Panz., lb. XX^''!!, 13 ; — Staphylinus im- 

 pressus, Oliv., Col., lb., v, 41 ; — S. boleti, L. ; Oliv., Col., lb., iii, 25 ; — S. collaris, 

 ejiisd., lb. vi, 53 ; — S. socialis, ejusd., lb., iii, 25, and generally the three first fami- 

 lies of the genus Aleochara, of Gravenhorst, Col. Mic'., II. See also Gyllenhal, 

 Insect. Suec. I, pars II, p. 377. We should remark, however, that neither this 

 author nor Gravenhorst has assigned clear and rigorous characters to the Aleocharae 

 and Lomechusse ; both these genera demand revision. 



X In some, the thorax is smooth and without an elevated margin ; such are the 

 Aleocharae bipunctata, lanuginosa, nitida (Slaphylinus bipustulatus, L. ; Oliv., Col., 

 Ill, 42, V, 44), fumata, nana, Gravenh., or his families III — VI, Col. Microp., II. 

 The margin of the thorax is turned up in the others forming his genus Lomechusa ; 

 L. paradoxal Staphylinus emarginatus, Oliv., Ih., ii, 12 ; — L. dentata, Grav.; StO' 

 phylinus sfrumosus, Payk., V. 



§ Oxyporus subterruneus, Fab. ; — O. bipustulatus, ejusd., Panz., Faun. Insect. 

 Germ., XVI, 21; — O. marginellus, Panz., lb., IX, 13; Staphylinus fuscipes, lb., 

 XXVII, 12; — Oxyporus suturalis, lb., XVIII, 20 ;—0. j)ygmaus, lb. 27; — O. lunu- 

 latus, Ibid., XXII, 19, 15 ; — Staphylinus atricapiUus, F. ; — Oxyporus merdarius, 

 Panz., Ibid., XXVI, 18; — Staphylinus striatus, Oliv., lb., v, 47; S. luna/us, L. 

 See also for this, as well as the following subgenus, the Insect. Suec, Gyll., I, 

 pars I. Some excellent remarks will there be found respecting the sexual dif- 

 ferences of several species, the application of which may be rendered highly useful. 

 Those Tachini in which, as in the atricapiUus, the thorax is nearly as long as it 



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