Cepkennium.'] CLAVICORNIA. 85 



oval, very finely and rather thickly punctured, each with a deep fovea 

 in middle of base, apex and also the pygidium reddish. L. 1 mm. 



Male with the anterior tibiae slightly thickened towards apex, and 

 slightly curved before apex ; mctasternum deeply impressed. 



In moss, &c. ; not uncommon and rather generally distributed in the London and 

 Southern districts, and it occurs generally in some of the midland districts, but there 

 appears to be no record from further north than Repton, Burton-on-Treut (where it 

 is rare) ; it does not occur in Scotland. 



(C. intermedium, Aube. A single specimen of an insect, named 

 as this species by M. Fairmaire, was taken by the Kev. A. Matthews 

 near Silchester, Hants, in 1859, and described by him in the Zoologist 

 for 1862 (7976) ; according to Mr. Matthews the species may be known 

 by its dark colour, smaller thorax, rather longer antennae, and more 

 elongate shape ; according to Aube's description, however, the shape 

 should be shorter, so that M. Fairmaire's determination of the specimen 

 appears to be doubtfully correct ; the species appears to be represented 

 in many collections by colour varieties of G. thoracicum). 



CLAVIGEBIDJE. 



The species that forai this family are by many authors included as a 

 tribe under the Pselaphidse, -with which they have some points in 

 common ; at the same time they differ so widely as a whole from these 

 latter, that it is best to separate them off as a family ; they may be 

 distinguished by their long cylindrical head and curiously formed 

 abdomen, of which the front segments are connate, as well as by their 

 general contour ; the number of joints in the antenna} varies from two 

 to six, and the palpi are one-jointed and inconspicuous ; these points, as 

 a rule, serve to distinguish them from the Pselaphidaa, which generally 

 have the antennae 11-jointed and the palpi 3- or 4-jointed and long and 

 conspicuous j abnormal species of Pselaphidce, however, occur, which 

 resemble the Clavigeridae in these characters ; the tarsi are 3-jointed, 

 the first and second joints being very short, and the third long, and 

 terminated by a single claw ; many of the species are totally devoid of 

 eyes ; they live with ants which, by caressing the tufts of hair that 

 grow on their abdomen, cause the exudation of a fluid ; this they 

 swallow greedily, and in return appear to support the Clavigers, which 

 seem to have lost the natural instinct of feeding themselves ; as Sir 

 John Lubbock observes (Ants, Bees, and "Wasps, Int. Scientific Series, 

 p. 84), the slave-making ant and Claviger and certain other myrme- 

 cophilous beetles are the only cases in nature of an animal having lost 

 this instinct. We possess one species only of the family in Britain, 

 which is local but not uncommon where it occurs. 



CLAVIGER, Prey&sler. 

 This genus contains seventeen or eighteen European species and one 



