256 MR. A. MURRAY'S MONOGRAPH OF THE FAMILY OF NITIDULARLZE. 
Genus: BRACHYPEPLUS*. 
Erichs. in Germ. Zeitschr. iv. 245 (1843). 
Caput sulcis antennariis convergentibus. Labrum haud bilobum. Epistoma porrectum. Thorax basi 
truncata, angulis posticis subrectis, Elytra striata vel costata. Abdomen segmentis 1 mo et 2do plus 
minusve brevibus, 3tio et 4to majoribus, 5to maximo, ultimis tribus expositis, segmentis expositis 
thorace longioribus fimbriisque distinctis instructis. Tibiæ apice extus canaliculate. 
Body long, and in most species depressed. Head rather small. Epistome somewhat 
projecting. Eyes rather small. Antenn: a little longer than the head, the first article 
somewhat enlarged and widened on the outer side, the second a little thicker than those 
which follow, the third somewhat elongate, the rest gradually smaller, the two before the 
club slightly increased in breadth, the club usually round. Antennal grooves narrow, 
slightly converging. Labrum rounded in front, with a feeble trace of a division in the 
middle, sometimes with a notch on each side. Mandibles usually with two small teeth 
behind the point. Maxille short, with a brush of hairs at the end and on the inner side. 
Maxillary palpi moderately short, somewhat longer than the maxille, the first article 
short, the second unequal and large, the third shorter, the fourth longer and usually 
tumid. Ligula corneous, with a broad ciliated membranous lobe on each side. Labial 
palpi short, the first article very small and slender, the second thick, the third somewhat 
more compressed, truncate at the point. Mentum broad, bi-emarginate, with a prominent 
tooth in the middle. "Thorax about the breadth of the elytra, transverse, broader than 
long, somewhat narrowed in front, with the apex feebly emarginate and the base truncate, 
straight or slightly sinuate, the posterior angles nearly right angles, and the sides with a 
narrow margin, which in some species is fringed with hairs. Prosternum not projecting. 
Metathorax without axillary pieces. Scutellum variable in form, generally transverse. 
Elytra costate or striate, short, truncate, margined on the sides, the exterior apical angles 
rounded. The abdomen more or less parallel; above with three segments exposed, 
which are longer than the thorax, but not so long as thorax and elytra united; below 
with the first two segments shorter than the rest (in the subgenera Liparopeplus and 
Adocima very little shorter), the two following somewhat longer, the last the longest 
of all. All the exposed dorsal segments have a broad well-marked fimbria along the 
margin, extending in a ring across the segment under the immediately preceding seg- 
ment. The under side of the abdomen is also generally furnished with a slight indication 
of fimbriz; in some of the species, more particularly in Adocima bella, there is as well- 
defined a fimbria on the under side as on the upper; and in almost all the species of 
Brachypeplus and its allies they extend in a more or less developed ring across the anterior 
margin of the segment below as well as above. In most of them this is concealed from 
view by the overlapping of the segment in front; but in some it can be very distinctly 
i The name Brachypeplus has been previously used for a genus of Hymenoptera; but it seems to be carrying 
purism too far to propose to change a well-established name merely because it has been previously used in the 
nomenclature of another class of animals. "The promulgation of any such new names may properly be objected to for 
the future, and disowned whilst they are still fresh, but after they have acquired currency I do not think they should 
be meddled with. The practical mischief done by such double employment of names is much less trifling than the 
meonvenience caused by changing them. 
