INSECTA. 393 
B. Head more or less narrowed at base, but not forming a neck. Pro- 
notum straight at base. 
a. Outer claw usually furnished with a tooth at base, rarely bifid at 
apex ; inner claw simple. 
1. Pronotum transverse, rounded in front; lateral margins broad 
and arched. Maxillary palpi securiform, with the interior angle distinct, and 
the inner margin of considerable length Telephorus. 
2. Pronotum square or longer than broad, arched in front, nearly 
straight and narrowly margined on the sides. Maxillary palpi subovoid. 
Outer claw toothed Absidia (Muls.). 
b. Outer claw not toothed at base, bifid at the apex, like the inner one. 
1. Last segment of abdomen rounded at its posterior angles, with 
no triangular expansion. Inflected margin of elytra ceasing at the level of 
the belly Bhaoonycha. 
2. Last dorsal segment of abdomen with its posterior angles di- 
lated and forming a triangular expansion above the ventral segment. In- 
flected margin of elytra continued to the middle of the belly. Pygidia (Muls.). 
II. Fold of the elytra not visible at the base. Postepisterum not sinuated 
within. Lateral margins of pronotum dentate or incised, at least in c? . 
SiLis (Muls.). 
The total number of species recorded is 154 : namely, of Poda- 
brus, 7 ; of Telephorus^ 81 ; of Absidia, 3 • of Rhagonycha, 50 ; 
of Pygidia, 8 ; and of Silis, 5. A tabular synopsis of the species 
of each genus is given. 
Bethe (Stett. ent. Zeit. 18G4, p.407) remarks, in opposition to Kiesenwetter, 
that the prothorax in the $ of Silis ritficollis (Fab.) is similar to that of the 
S , except that its posterior angles do not project so distinctly in the form 
of a tooth, and the pit within each hinder angle is destitute of the oblique 
ridge which occurs in the d • The sexual differences are very distinctly 
marked in the abdomen ; but this part can only be accurately examined in 
fresh specimens. The lateral margins of the prothorax are emarginate in 
both sexes in many species of the genus St'lis ; Bethe mentions S. 6-dentata 
(Mann.), S. pallida (Eschsch.), and S. familians (Dolmi, MS.). lie states 
that the best sexual characters in this genus are to be derived from the legs 
and antenna3, which are one-third thinner in the females than in the males, 
whilst in the latter the second joint of the antennae is shorter than in the 
females. The legs are also lighter in colour in the $ (/. c. p. 408). 
Reiche states that Telephorus hilunatus (Mars.) is a French species, and 
that Syria is probably erroneously given as its native country by Be Marseul 
{vide infra). Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. I8G4, p. xxxi. 
Netv genus : — 
Pleolohus, Philippi, Stett. ent. Zeit. 1864, p. 278. Head free, trans- 
verse, produced and constricted behind the eyes ; epistome distinct ; pro- 
thorax transverse, ttapezoidal ; tarsi with fourth joint bilobed, with two 
large pulvilli beneath, last joint as long as the two preceding together; 
claws simple. Sp. P. fuscescens, Phil. p. 279, and P. niyrinus, Phil, ibid., 
from Chili. 
