ccviii Mr. Wollaston s Characters 



tarsis 4-articulatis, articulis lmo, 2do et 3tio paulatim vix decrescentibus, 

 ultimo majore clavato, unguiculis simplicibus munito. 

 Typus: Deretaphrus fossus, Neivm. (ex Australia). 



Eegarding the affinities of this genus there cannot, I think, be the slightest 

 question, retaining as it does all the characteristics of the Colydiadse, even though 

 it presents, at the same time, many anomalies of a minor kind which may serve 

 to connect it in some measure with other departments also far removed. Thus, 

 in its external contour (so strongly suggestive of Colydium proper) and tetrame- 

 rous feet it is precisely in accordance with the normal members of that family ; 

 in the inflation of the basal joint of its antenna? it is the exact counterpart of 

 Bothrideres ; and in the construction of its tibiae it has much in common with 

 the Lycti. From the Trogositidae, to which at first sight it might be supposed 

 perhaps to be allied, it is altogether separated by its four-jointed tarsi and the full 

 development of its inner maxillary lobe ; whilst its general facies and subcylin- 

 drical body are more indicative of a lignivorous mode of life than of the bone- 

 and skin-infesting tendency which is so strongly displayed in the representatives 

 of that group. The construction of its thickened and greatly abbreviated anten- 

 nae, with the curious foreshortening of their terminal articulation, is very pecu- 

 liar, calling to mind a good deal what we observe in Thorictus, with which genus, 

 moreover (although in other respects by no means related to it), in the form of 

 its robust and glabrous mandibles, it, singularly enough, almost coincides. Its 

 tibial spurs are moulded on a very remarkable type, being of unequal dimensions, 

 and the larger of the two (which in the anterior pair of legs is the front, and in 

 the posterior four the hinder, one) considerably developed, and subcompressed, 

 somewhat after the manner of those of Meloe and other Heteromera. I think 

 it far from unlikely also that, like them (although I have not been able to satisfy 

 myself of this from positive observation, having been unwilling to destroy the 

 single specimen from which the above generic diagnosis has been compiled), they 

 may be articulated on to the basal joint of the foot, and therefore of a moveable 

 nature, rather than fixed appendages of the tibia itself. 



Upon the whole, however, there cannot, I imagine, be much doubt that Dere- 

 taphrus is rightly referred to the Colydiadoe ; and I should be inclined to suspect 

 that, when placed between Colydium proper and Bothrideres, it will be found 

 nearest to those groups with which it has the most evident affinity. 



It may perhaps be useful to mention, that the main points of structure in 

 which Deretaphrus recedes from Colydium are in the excessive robustness of its 

 antennae and the proportions of their joints, particularly in the inflation of the 

 basal, and in the smallness and truncature of the ultimate, one; in its more 

 CO] i coaled upper lip ; in its larger, robuster and more obtuse mandibles, which 

 are deeply siuuated towards their outer base, with their apex merely bidentate, 

 ;iii<1 ilxir internal margin almost entire and free from membrane; in the more 

 distinctly ondnated inner lobe of its maxillae; in its larger, differently shai)ed 



