298 CLASS INSECTA. 



thicker towards the end, but under the form of a club, and 

 always uncovered, are inserted in front of the eyes : in which 

 the corslet is short, and the elytra covers the major part of 

 the abdomen. i^See Latr. ihicL I. p. 298, and the omalium 

 ovattim, and macroptemm of Gravenhorst.) 



Aleochara, Grav., 



In which the antennae are inserted between the eyes, or near 

 their inferior edge, and naked at their origin, with the first 

 three articulations sensibly longer than the following, these 

 last perfoliated, and the last elongated and conical. The 

 corslet is almost oval, of in a square rounded at the angles.* 



The fifth section, the Microcephala, have the head sunk 

 posteriorly as far as near the eyes, in the corslet. It is not 

 separated by a neck, nor visible strangulation. The corslet 

 has the form of a trapezium, and is widened from front to 

 rear. 



They have the body less elongated than the preceding, and 

 approaching more to the elliptical form, the head much more 

 narrow, contracted and advanced in front, the mandibles of 

 middle size without denticulations, and simply arched at the 

 point. The elytra, in many, cover a little more than half 

 of the length of the upper part of the abdomen. Some live 

 in mushrooms, on flowers, and others in dung. Fabricius 

 has joined many of their species with the oxypori. 



* Staphj/linus canaliculatiis, Fab. Panz. ibid. XXVII. \o; StaphyliniLS 

 imjjressus, Oliv. Col. ibid. v. 41 ; S. Boleti, Lin. Oliv. Col. ibid. iii. 25; S. 

 collaris, ejiisd. ibid. ii. 13; S. minutiis, ejusd. ibid. vi. 53; S. socialis, ejusd. 

 ibid, iii 25, and generally the first three families of the genus Aleochara, of 

 Gravenhorst, Col. Mic. torn. II. See also Gyllenhall, Insect. Suec. I. 

 Part II. p. 577. But it will be observed that neither this author nor M. 

 Gravenhorst have assigned to Aleochara, and Lomechusa, clear and rigo- 

 rous characters. These two sub-genera require some new examination. 



