[467] De Geer, ii. 518—.
[468] Peck in Linn. Trans. xi. 92.
[469] Meigen considers this as an Ortalis; but its peculiar habit of constantly vibrating its wings indicates a distinct genus: especially as the habit is not confined to a single species.
[470] De Geer, vi. 335.
[472] The most common number of joints in the tarsus is from two to five; but the Phalangidæ have sometimes more than forty. In these, under a lens, this part looks like a jointed antenna.
Geoffroy, and after him most modern entomologists, has taken the primary divisions of the Coleoptera order from the number of joints in the tarsus; but this, although perhaps in the majority of cases it may afford a natural division, will not universally. For—not to mention the instance of Pselaphus, clearly belonging to the Brachyptera—both Oxytelus, Grav., and another genus that I have separated from it (Carpalimus, K. Ms.), have only two joints in their tarsi. In this tribe, therefore, it can only be used for secondary divisions.—K.
[473] iii. 284.
[474] Hist. Ins. 10.