334 INSECTA. 



isometrical, as wide as the head, and narrower than the elytra; the 

 antennae usually filiform, with elongated joints(l). 

 There the palpi are subulate. 



MicROPEPLUs, Lat. 



Antennae terminating in a solid club, and lodged in fossulae of the 

 thorax(2). 



Proteinus, Lat. 



Antennae granose, somewhat perfoliaceous, and larger at the end, 

 but clavate, always exposed, and inserted before the eyesj thorax 

 short; elytra covering the greater part of the abdomen(3). 



Aleochaka, Grav. 



The antennae inserted between the eyes or near their inferior mar- 

 gin and exposed at base, with the three first joints evidently longer 

 than the following ones, which are perfoliate, the last elongated and 

 conical; thorax nearly oval, or a square rounded at the angles(4). 



In the fifth section — Micuocephala — the head is plunged poste- 

 riorly into the thorax, nearly up to the eyes; it is neither separated 

 by a neck, nor by a visible strangulation; the thorax forms a trape- 

 zium, and is widened from before backwards. 



The body is less elongated than in the preceding section, and ap- 

 proaches more to an ellipsis; the head is much narrower, contracted 

 and projected forwards, and the mandibles are of a moderate size, 

 edentated, and simply arcuated at the point. The elytra, in several, 

 cover rather more than the half of the length of the top of the ab- 

 domen. Some live on flowers and mushrooms, and others in dung. 

 Fabricius placed several species among the Oxypori. 



(1) SeeLatr., Gener. Crust, et Insect., I, 296, 297; Gravenhorst and Gyllenhal, 

 genus Anthophagus. 



(2) See Lat. Gener. Crust, et Insect., IV, 377; Omalium porcatum, Gyll., In- 

 sect. Suec, I, pars II, p 211; Micropeplus porcatus, Charp., Horse Entom., VIII, 

 9; — 0. stapkylinoidcs, Gyll., lb. p. 213. 



(3) See Lat., lb. I, p. 298, and the Omal. ovatum and macropterum of Graven- 

 horst. 



(4) Staphylinus canaliculaius. Fab.; Panz., lb., XXVII, 13; — Staphylinus im- 

 pressus, Oliv., Col., lb., v, 41; — S. boleti,h.i Oliv., Col., lb., iii, 25; — S. collaris, 

 ejusd., lb. vi, 53 ; — S. socialis, ejusd., lb., iii, 25, and generally the three first fami- 

 lies of the genus Akochara, of Gravenhorst, Col. Mic, 11. See also Gyllenhal, 

 Insect. Suec. I, pars II, p. 377. We should remark, however, that neither this 

 author nor Gravenhorst has assigned clear and rigorous characters to the Aleo- 

 charse and Lomechusse; both these genera demand revision. 



