56 



a large species of Brachinus is named by him 

 Americanus. 



Sp. 20. Spinipes. — Now a Curtonotus of Stephens, 

 and one of the genera of Amaridse. A species 

 named convexiusculus, by the same author, feeds 

 on the bleached roots of grasses under stones. Re- 

 specting the typical species, Scopoli has recorded 

 that it is abundant " super trictici spicas frequens," 

 and why there ? Some have imagined that these 

 insects resort to standing corn in quest of the 

 Aphides, my observations lead me to believe they 

 attack the stalk of the wheat and devour it, and in 

 this habit they approach Zabrus. Mr. Stephens in 

 his Systematical Catalogue has placed Bradytus and 

 Curtonotus before Zabrus, evidently proving himself 

 by that judicious arrangement to be, in the language 

 of Barrington, an out-door Naturalist. The re- 

 searches of Zimmerman induce him to believe that the 

 Amaridse are vegetable feeders, and from collecting 

 assiduously the Harpalidse, I am also inclined to 

 think that the Ophoni and Trechidse, and even some 

 of the species of true Harpalus feed on the roots of 

 grasses. I think it also not improbable that the pe- 

 culiar smell of the Amaridae is derived from the vege- 

 tation they eat. Lebia, Brachinus, and Panagaeus 

 will eventually be found to feed on vegetation. Lam- 



