Oedee COLEOPTEEA. 



Family CARABID^. 



Mentum notched ; ligula projecting and with paraglossse ; maxillaB 

 slender ; cihate internally, not ending in an articulated claw, with 

 an external biarticulated and palpiform lobe ; mandibles seldom 

 greatly developed, either toothless inwardly or with few teeth ; pre- 

 daceous in character ; labial palpi consisting of three visible joints ; 

 antennge, arising at the side of the head between the base of the 

 mandibles and the eye, eleven jointed, slender; tarsi pentamerous; 

 legs adapted generally to cursorial habits, abdominal segments, six 

 in number, the three basal ones soldered together, but the first one 

 " divided or hidden by the posterior coxae in such a manner that it 

 is entirely lateral, rarely appearing as a small triangular piece be- 

 tween the posterior coxae " ; * habits predaceous and carnivorous. 



Lacordaire's following Enchson's division f has separated the 

 family in two primary groups, based on the structure of the meta- 

 thoracice pipimera, I and that of the anterior legs, but the subsequent 

 divisions, in three sub-families as given by Horn, seem to me more 

 satisfactory. 



Middle coxal cavities not entirely enclosed by the sterna, 

 the epimeron of the mesosternum attaining the coxa . . . . Carahini. 



Middle coxal cavities entirely enclosed by the sterna, the 

 epimeron not attaining the coxa ; head without antennal 

 grooves beneath, and with distinct supra-orbital setae. Ambu- 

 latorial setae of abdomen usually well developed Harpalini. 



Head with distinct, usually long, antennal grooves beneath 

 and without distinct supra-orbital setae. 



Ambulatorial setse of abdomen feeble or wanting Pscudomorphini.^ 



* Dr. G. H, Horn, ' On the Genera of Carabidce, with special reference to the 

 Fauna of Boreal America,' p. 91. 



t In 1885 Schiodte was led to divide the Carabidcs in two sections ; one in which 

 the suture joining the epimera of the mesosternum to the episterna reaches the 

 intermediate coxae, and the other in which the suture stops along the outer side 

 of the median part of the metasternum. 



\ I intend, when this Catalogue is sufficiently advanced, to give a Glossary and 

 Introduction to the structure, external and internal, of the families treated. 



§ This sub-family has no representatives in South Africa. 



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