a 
‘ae 
ih 
32 Dr. Schaum on the British Geodephaga. 
the nutriment and the formation of large quantities of starch and 
highly carbonized resinous matters in plants devoid of leaves or 
other green parts. Of this I can offer no explanation without 
going into hypotheses regarding assimilation in general, which I 
am not willing to do here; I will only observe, that I believe as- 
similation to be a process wholly distinct and independent of the — 
respiration, liberating oxygen, in the green parts of plants. 
The specimens in which I traced the connection of the para- 
site with the root of the foster-plant were single and small; in 
other cases I found a group of two or three large specimens at- 
tached together and to a decayed tuber, probably of the former 
year, and having no apparent connection with a foster-plant. This 
point requires further observation ; but these cases suggest that 
the seedling plant may require a foster-plant, while those pro- 
duced by buds from an old plant are less dependent ; just as the 
green parasites in the Rhinanthacez are apparently independent 
after they have acquired a certain degree of development. 
The development of the ovary confirms Mr. Brown’s view of its 
structure, in opposition to the opinion expressed by Dr. Lindley. 
I have satisfied myself, by tracing the formation from the earliest 
stages, that the carpels stand fore and aft, and not laterally. A 
section of the perfect style also, just below the stigma, exhibits 
two vascular bundles, one in front and one behind, opposite the 
sutures of dehiscence, so that the lobes of the stigma each be- 
long half to each carpel. The supposed analogy with Gentianacez 
therefore falls to the ground, while that with Scrophulariaceze is 
real. 
V.—Remarks on the British Geodephaga ; with Notes on seme 
Scydmeenidee and Pselaphide. By Dr. H. Scuaum*. 
No attempt to reconcile, even in a tolerably satisfactory manner, 
the great difference which exists between tae usual English no- 
menclature and our own, has hitherto been successful. Of the 
more numerous and difficult genera of insects, an understanding 
can scarcely be obtained without interchanging specimens or 
studying the original collections. The descriptions of the En- 
glish writers, which perhaps may suffice to make known to the 
* Translated by Wm. S. Dallas, Esq., from the ‘ Entomologische Zeitung’ 
for February 1848, pp. 34-44, and communicated by him. 
[These introductory remarks of Dr. Schaum apply only to Coleoptera, 
for Mr. Henry Doubleday and Mr. Stainton have done much to rectify the 
nomenclature of the nocturnal smaller Lepidoptera, while Messrs. Shuckard, 
F. Smith, Haliday, Walker and others have laboured, and by foreign works 
have determined the species of many groups of Hymenoptera and Diptera. ] 
