9Qg [February, 
small and obscure, the largest being only a line in length ; and they occur in fungi, 
under vegetable refuse, and at the damp foundations of hay-stacks, often in pro- 
fusion. I have never under any circumstances found Megarthrus or Phloeohium 
near bark, in spite of the habitat given for those genera by the usually precise 
Erichson (and as to the latter of them echoed by Kraatz). The sti-ucture of 
Phlceohium is, however, very suggestive of sub-cortical habits ; and, indeed, like 
Trogophlceus, and apparently equally erroneously, it must have been named under 
the idea that it was in some way connected with trees. 
All our Protinides seem to point somewhat strongly towards the Nitidulidce in 
the Necroplmga, both in the structure of their anterior coxas and in the commence- 
ment of a club to their antennae, — a character very evident in the allied 3Iicropeplus, 
which has been, and still is, balloted about from one section to another. 
The 1st genus, PEOTINUS, Latr., comprises certain very small, ovate, mode- 
rately convex, shining black insects, gregarious, and frequenting fungi. In it the 
three apical joints of the antennsE are enlarged, the apical joint being the largest ; 
and the ridge on the 2nd segment of the abdomen is very slight In the males the 
penultimate segment of the abdomen is emarginate. 
1. P. BREVicoLLis, Er., Ktz. Tliis, the largest and most abundant species, is, 
when not dried up in setting, fully 1 line (English) in length. It is black, shining, 
rather flattened, with reddish testaceous legs, and entirely pitchy-black antennae. 
The elytra are sometimes pitchy-brown, the humeral callus being often lighter 
than the rest of the elytron. There is every probabiUty that this is the P. ovalis 
of (Kirby) Stephens ; but the " thorax with hinder angles faintly notched" of that 
author's description is almost enough to remove his insect out of the genus. 
2. P. BEACHYPTERUS, Fab., Er., Kr. Compared with P. irevicollis, this species 
is smaller (averaging scarcely f of a line), shorter, more convex, with less evidently 
punctured elytra, and with the basal joint of the antennse testaceous, the second 
joint also being sometimes not quite so dark as the remainder. It is almost as 
common as P. hrevicollis. 
3. P. MACROPTEEUS, Gyll., Er., Kr. This insect, much rarer than C. hrachyp- 
terus, is also smaller, being scarcely frds of a line in length. It may readily be 
distinguished by the two hasal joints of its antennae being testaceous, and by its 
thorax being less rounded at the sides, and gradually narrowed from the base (not 
from the middle) towards the front. Its elytra, also, are rather lighter in colour. 
P. ATOMARius, Er., Kr. Easily known by its very small size (scarcely ^ a line) 
and pitchy -brown colour, and by its antennae being, with the exception of the pitchy 
club, entirely testaceous. It seems to be as rare as P. macropterus. 
The next genus, MEGARTHRUS, Kirby, has the apical joint only of its antennae 
enlarged, the 2nd and 3rd joints of its maxillary palpi swollen, and equal in width, 
and the hinder angles of its thorax notched out. The ridge on the 2nd segment of 
the abdomen extends, according to Kraatz, over the whole depth of the segment, 
but it seems to me not to reach the hinder margin ; and the males afford con- 
spicuous sexual characters in the middle and hinder legs, as well as in the under- 
side of the penultimate and ante-penultimate segments of the abdomen. 
The species of this genus are rather larger, flatter, and less oval than the 
