32 Dr. Scliaum on the British Geodephaga. 



the nutriment and the formation of large quantities of starch and 

 highly carbonized resinous matters in plants devoid of leaves or 

 other green parts. Of this I can offer no explanation without 

 going into hypotheses regarding assimilation in general, which I 

 am not willing to do here ; I will only observe, that I believe as- 

 similation to be a process wholly distinct and independent of the 

 respiration, liberating oxygen, in the green parts of plants. 



The specimens in which I traced the connection of the para- 

 site with the root of the foster-plant were single and small ; in 

 other cases I found a group of two or three large specimens at- 

 tached together and to a decayed tuber, probably of the former 

 year, and having no apparent connection with a foster-plant. This 

 point requires further observation ; but these cases suggest that 

 the seedling plant may require a foster-plant, while those pro- 

 duced by buds from an old plant are less dependent; just as the 

 green parasites in the K-hinanthacese are apparently independent 

 after they have acquired a certain degree of development. 



The development of the ovary confirms Mr. Brown^s view of its 

 structure, in opposition to the opinion expressed by Dr. Lindley. 

 I have satisfied myself, by tracing the formation from the earliest 

 stages, that the carpels stand fore and aft, and not laterally. A 

 section of the perfect style also, just below the stigma, exhibits 

 two vascular bundles, one in front and one behind, opposite the 

 sutures of dehiscence, so that the lobes of the stigma each be- 

 long half to each carpel. The supposed analogy with Gentianacese 

 therefore falls to the ground, while that with Scrophulariacese is 

 real. 



V. — Remarks on the British Geodephaga ; with Notes on some 

 Scydmsenidse and Pselaphidse. By Dr. H. Schaum*. 



No attempt to reconcile, even in a tolerably satisfactory manner, 

 the great difference which exists between the usual English no- 

 menclature and our own, has hitherto been successful. Of the 

 'more numerous and difficult genera of insects, an understanding 

 can scarcely be obtained without interchanging specimens or 

 studying the original collections. The descriptions of the En- 

 glish writers, which perhaps may suffice to make known to the 



* Translated by Wm. S. Dallas, Esq., from the * Entomologische Zeitiuig ' 

 for February 1848, pp. 34-44, and communicated by him. 



[These introductory remarks of Dr. Schaum apply only to Coleoptera, 

 for Mr. Henry Doubleday and Mr. Stainton have done much to rectify the 

 nomenclature of the nocturnal smaller Lepidoptera, while Messrs. Shuckard, 

 F. Smith, Haliday, Walker and others have laboured, and by foreign works 

 have determined the species of many groups of Hymenoptera and Diptera.] 



