10 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
larger; in the male very deeply and semicircularly excavated, 
almost to the base, with a tuft of stiff bristles each side at the 
front edge of the excavation; in the female this segment is 
flat, and meets the last dorsal at tip in the usual manner; 
on the sides the lateral upward extension of the 5th ventral is 
very large, but the spiracle is visible; the extension of the 
4th and 8rd segments are much smaller, and imbricated upon 
the 5th and 4th respectively; the side margin of the Ist and 
2nd is very narrow, and the side pieces of the metasternum 
are scarcely visible; the elytra are connate, with the lateral 
groove of the inner face narrow and sharply defined, becoming 
broader and indefinite at the posterior 4th; on the inner face 
are seen eight rows of punctures, corresponding to ridges of 
tubercles on the back; the tarsi are 4-jointed, narrow, or at 
least the third joint not wider than the others, deeply grooved 
beneath; the tibiz are truncate, without spurs, the front pair 
a little incurved at tip in both sexes; claws simple, not 
contiguous. The genera of this family are stated by Mr. 
Jekel* to differ by the form of the eyes, some being 
Cyclophthalmes, others Oxyophthalmes ; also, in the antennal 
grooves, some being Obliquiscrobes, others Lateriscrobes. 
The vestiture of the under surface of the tarsi varies in 
different genera: in Psalidura they are spongy sericeous 
beneath ; in others, ciliate or spinous. In other genera the 
sexual characters are less remarkable than in Psalidura, and 
will be found to consist chiefly in the division of the last dorsal 
_ segment into two, as in the other families of the series. 
The Brachyceridz are restricted to Africa and the neigh- 
bouring parts of Europe and Asia: they are stout insects, 
with ventricose elytra, suddenly deflexed behind, and extend- 
ing far upon the flanks, like the first tribes of Tenebrionide, 
which they also resemble in the large mentum, flat, filling 
the whole of the buccal cavity; the beak is short and stout, 
thicker at the extremity, alike in both sexes; the antennal 
grooves are wanting (Episus), or deep and directed down- 
wards, almost confluent in the gular region (Brachycerus, 
Microcerus); the antenne are short, straight, or feebly 
geniculate, scape forming less than one-third the length ; 
joints of the funiculus seven, rather short; club solid, 
obconical, truncate or subacuminate at tip; eyes rounded or 
* Ann, Ent, Soc. France, 1864, 544. 
