328 STAPHYLINIDA. 
by the fact that the four basal joints of the anterior tarsi are dilated and by the more 
elongate maxillary palpi. The gene are not emarginate; and the dilatation of four 
joints of the front feet is common to the two sexes. The facies is that of such species 
of Philonthus as are of moderate size and slender form and have a narrow head, e. g. 
P. longicornis, Steph.; but from these insects Mimosticus is readily distinguished by 
the structure of the prothorax, the margins of which are strongly trenchant (or cutting) 
beneath, even at the free front angles. 
1. Mimosticus viridipennis. (Tab. VIII. fig. 2.) 
Hlongatus, niger; elytris viridibus, abdomine viridescenti-versicolore, segmento ultimo ad apicem stylisque 
terminalibus ad basin rufescentibus. 
Long. 12 millim. 
Hab. Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui 2000 to 3000 feet (Champion). 
Antenne entirely black, linear, reaching as far back as the base of the thorax; each 
joint longer than broad, the basal joint quite as long as the second and third together: 
these two subequal. Head scarcely half as broad as the thorax; this latter broader 
than long, narrowed in front, base and hind angles quite rounded, the surface black, in 
a certain light opalescent. Elytra rather longer than the thorax, moderately closely 
and finely punctate. Hind body rather sparingly punctate, its surface with brilliant 
viridescent reflections, becoming fiery at the hind margins of each segment; this fulgid 
colour is broadest on the terminal segment, and the base of this latter segment shows 
a large impunctate space both on the ventral and dorsal surfaces. The legs are quite 
black. 
Mr. Champion found only a single example of this insect. It has the central lobe of 
the terminal armature bilobed; and as I have in my collection the male of a closely 
allied Colombian species, I am able to conclude that Mr. Champion’s specimen is a 
female. 
QUEDIUS. 
Quedius, Stephens, Ill. Brit. Ent. v. p. 214; Erichson, Gen. et Spec. Staph. p. 523. 
This large genus comprises about two hundred described species, and is nearly cosmo- 
politan in its distribution. From Tropical South America we know, however, as 
yet, only three or four species, most of them of a type apparently peculiar to and 
characteristic of the region; Chili possesses numerous very aberrant species. The 
Central-American species fall into three natural groups, the first of which contains a 
single species agreeing with the European and North-American forms, while the second 
group is formed by three species allied to the Australian forms of the genus; the 
remaining, third, group comprises the greater part of the Central-American Quedii, 
and is peculiar to the Tropical-American region, with possibly a species or two north 
of Mexico. 
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