68 



INTRODUCTIOIS". 



Family 9. RHYSODIDiE. 



Form elongate and subparallel ; antennas inserted under the side 

 margin of the front, eleven-jointed, short and thick, moniliform ; 

 mentum very large, entirely covering the mouth-parts ; prostemum 

 long, anterior coocal cavities closed behind ; mesosternum short, meta- 

 sternum very long, without a cross-suture before the hind coxa?, the 

 epimera, but not the episterna, reaching the middle coxal cavity ; tarsi 

 five-jointed ; tibial spurs oblong, double on anterior, single on inter- 

 mediate and posterior pairs ; abdomen with six ventral segments, the 

 first three connate, but luith the sutures apparent ; venation of wings 

 Adephagid in their general characters, but with the areola oblonga 

 wanting, there being only one cross-vein joining the median and sub- 

 radial veins. 



The position of the family has been regarded as very doubtful, 

 and it certainly appears to bear relations towards the Colydiid.e 

 and Cucttjidje, between which it is placed by several authors. It 

 is now, however, generally regarded as purely Adephagid. 



The family consists of two genera, Bhysodes and Clinidium : 

 the former contains about seventy species, of which about a dozen 

 occur in the Indian region ; while to the latter belong about forty 

 species, one of which is found in the Himalayan region and another 

 in Burma. The life-history is apparently not known. The extra- 

 ordinary genus Stemmoderus of Spinola (figured as a Rhysodid by 

 Lacordaire, Atlas, pi. xx, fig. 5) ought apparently to be removed 

 from the group. 



Family 10. CUPEDID^E. 



Elongate insects, differing somewhat in shape and in the size and 

 structure of the antennae ; pronotum separated, by sutures from the 

 pleura 3 , of the thorax ; ventral segments free, at most the first connate 

 with the second, the first covered by the coxae, with at most the hind 

 margin free ; elytra with lattice-like sculpture ; ivings of a primary 

 A.dephagid type, with the median and the other ordinary veins 

 regular, and with at least twelve cross-veins, two of these, situated 

 between the second median and first cubital, enclosing a space, which 

 appears to represent the areola oblonga of the Carabid wing ; meta- 

 stemum with a cross-suture before the hind margin. 



The position of this family has been, and still is, much disputed. 

 Kolbe, in his earlier work (Allg. Zeitsch. Entom. 1903, p. 142), 



