12 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



have received specimens from Devonshire, captured, 1 believe, in 

 the neighbourhood of Barnstaple. Since writing the above, Mr. 

 Dale has informed me, that he captured four or five specimens in 

 August 1824, at the former place, where Mr. Curtis also obtained 

 specimens in September last. 



i\ccording to the observations of De Jean, this species flies less 

 than its congeners. 



Family II.— BRACHINID^, Mac Leay. 



Elytra abruptly truncated ; shorter than the abdomen. AntemuB filiform, in- 

 serted before the eyes : lahrum linear, or subquadrate, entire or emarginate, 

 rarely trilobate ; more or less coriaceous : mandibles without teeth, or den- 

 tated only at the base : maxillce ciliated internally, bent, with a claw at the 

 tip: labium ex^exteA. ; labial pal pi with iovac '^ovaXs: me/i^ww deeply notched : 

 anterior tiiice notched at their internal side before the apex : anterior tarsi 

 very slightly, or not at all, dilated in the males. 



Much dissimilarity prevails in the habits of the genera of this 

 family ; the individuals of the three first frequenting sandy dis- 

 tricts in the vicinity of the ocean, or the extensive meres in the 

 counties of Huntingdon and Cambridge ; those of the genera Bra- 

 chinus and Cymindis, damp places on the margins of great rivers 

 or estuaries ; and the remainder principally affecting gravel pits, or 

 the trunks and branches of trees and shrubs. 



The typical genus Brachinus is endowed with a most remark- 

 able property as a defence against the attacks of its enemies ; as 

 fully detailed in my observations upon the common species. 



The Brachinidse embrace the following genera, which may be 

 thus briefly characterized : 



Palpi elongati : Mandihulce \ ^''^^'^^ ^7''** \ 

 ■^ ° ( breves, baud porrecti 



rfiliformes : 



2. Drypta. 

 porrectae : . . 3. Polistichus. 



roblongus, siibcylindricus : . 4. Odacantha. 



I cordatus, longior 

 depressum : q^^m latins : ( articulo penultimo 



Thorax\ Tarsi-\ bifido: . 5. Demetrias.. 



I I articulis iiitesris : C. Dromius. 



transversus : I articulo penultimo 



TnrAJ Viifirln • 



T> 1 • \ Corpus ■ transversus : 1 articulo penultimo 



l„,;jj Tarsi] bifido: . • 7- Leb.a. 



' j ^ (^ articulis intcgris : 8. Lamprias. 



I Lsubconvexum : . . . . 10. Brachinus. 



l^fojjafc* articulo ultimo dilatato : . . . 9. CyiiiNDis. 



Genus II. — Drypta, Fabrkius. 



Palpi elongated ; internal maxillary filiform, with two nearly equal joints, ex- 

 leriinl with the basal joint minute, the second elongate, somewhat curved. 



