STAPHYLIXID.E. CEYPTOBIUM. 271 



Genus DXX. — Cryptobium, Mannerheim. 



Antennas gemculated, the basal joint very long and clavate, remainder equal in 

 length to one other, the second and third obconicj fourth to tenth lenticular, 

 terminal one rounded. PaJpi unequal, maxillary (h) longest, with the penul- 

 timate joint large, clavate, the ajDical one minute, conic, subulate ; 

 labial (c) with the last joint elongate-subulate: labrum (<f) deeply notched 

 in front, and furnished with six very long hairs : mandibles {e) acutely den- 

 tate within : head oblong: eyes minute: thorax elongate-quadrangular, 

 slightly convex, narrower than the elytra, the latter quadrate: body linear- 

 elongate : abdomen attenuated behind, its apex furnished with pilose lateral 

 styles in both sexes : femoi^a unarmed ; tarsi simple in both sexes. 



From the genera of this family, which have the anterior tarsi 

 simple in both sexes, Cryptobium differs by having the antennae 

 geniculated, and at the same time the terminal joint of the palpi 

 minute and subulated. One species only is known. 



Mannerheim having applied the name above given to this genusy 

 and added characters thereto, I have, in accordance with the usual 

 custom, reverted to his name, in lieu of Ochthephilum, published an- 

 teriorly in my Catalague, and slightly characterized in the synoptical 

 table of this family, in page 200. 



Sp. 1. fracticorne. Plate xxvii. J*. 1. a-^. — Atrum,nitidum,pedibustestacets,- 



antennis piceis. (Long. corp. 2 lin.) 

 St. fracticornis. Paykull.—Och.. fracticorne. Steph. Catal. 287. No. 3082.-^ 



Cry. fracticorne. Steph. Nomen. 'id edit. col. 103. 



Deep shining black : head elongate, moderately punctate, and slightly pubes- 

 cent and pilose : thorax also elongate, punctate, the discoidal punctures 

 disposed in two somewhat regular lines, the space between smooth : elytra 

 depressed, slightly pubescent, finely rugose-punctate: abdomen rather 

 opaque, with the margins of the penultimate segment narrowly edged with 

 whitish: legs testaceous: mouth and palpi pitchy-red: antennae "pitchy- 

 brown, with the basal joint black. 



This appears to be a rare insect, as I have never found more than 

 a pair, which I captured many years since in Battersea-fields, and 

 have seen very few specimens in collections : it usually occurs in 

 damp places, beneath long grasses, mosses, or stones. It has, I 

 believe, been also taken in Norfolk. 



