Carfodere.'] CLAVICOUNIA. 287 



Very rare ; it appears to be chiefly confined to herbaria, although it occasionally 

 occurs in fungi in other countries. Burton-on-Trent (Mr. Mason's herbarium, in 

 some smsill numbers) ; Scotland, Edinburgh (found by Professor McNab in the 

 herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens). 



CORTICARINA. 



The members of this tribe are distinguished from the Lathridiina by 

 having the anterior coxse contiguous and not more or less separated by 

 the prolongation of the prosternum ; the thorax is, as a rule, finely 

 crenulate or denticulate at the sides, and the upper surface is almost 

 always pubescent ; the tribe contains several genera, of which the most 

 curious and distinct is Dasyeerus (which is by some authors now 

 excluded from the family) ; this genus may at once be known by its 

 very long capillary and verticillate-pilose antennae, and strongly angular 

 thorax ; no species of this genus has yet been found in Britain, but it is 

 quite possible that D. sulcatus, like Langelandia, may yet be found in 

 some of the southern counties of England. Two British genera are 

 included in the tribe, of which one, Melanophihalma, has only compara- 

 tively recently been considered as distinct, and it has lately been further 

 subdivided by Herr Keitter ; the species may be known as a rule by the 

 distinct fovea at the base of the thorax ; some of them are extremely 

 variable, like the species of Lathridius, and in consequence great con- 

 fusion has arisen, as may be seen by glancing over a synonymous list of 

 the genera, some species having six, eight, or even ten synonyms or 

 named varieties assigned to them ; the members of the tribe are, as a rule, 

 found in moss, vegetable refuse, &c. 



I. Thorax with sides more or less strongly crenulate, 

 with a small round fovea, before base ; abdomen 

 with five segments visible in female, six in male; 



form oblong, more or less elongate CORTICABIA, Marsh. 



II. Thorax with sides scarcely, if at all, crenulate, with 

 a large transverse impression or fovea at base ; 

 abdomen with six segments visible in both sexes ; 



form short, more or less ovate MELANOPHTHALMA, Mots. 



The genus Corticaria, in its widest sense, comprises about two hun- 

 dred and fifty species, but many of these must probably be united with 

 others ; they are chiefly found in Europe, Northern and Central Asia, 

 and North America, but species occur in Brazil, Ceylon, India, South 

 Africa, Australia, New Zealand, &c., and the genus is probably 

 distributed over the greater part of the world. 



CORTICARIA, Marsham. 



Besides the differences above mentioned, this genus differs from 

 Mclanopkthalma in having the metasternum longitudinally impressed, 

 and the club of its 11-jointed antenna more abrupt ; the abdomen has 



