STAPHYLINID^ 435 



slender in the female types, so that the species probably would 

 come under section D of Horn, if the male were known. It appears 

 to me that this section D is superfluous in the treatment of Dr. 

 Horn, and it would have been far better to distribute its species 

 among the other sections, differentiating them in the tables by 

 other characters than those of a purely sexual nature. The dilata- 

 tion of the anterior tarsi in the male is of very variable degree, 

 passing almost insensibly from the distinctly dilated to the un- 

 dilated, though more or less thick, form characterizing the males of 

 section D. 



The following comes certainly under Section D of Horn and is 

 one of the largest of the North American species of the genus; 

 the fact that so prominent a species should have been overlooked 

 hitherto, although occurring near New York City, is rather mysti- 

 fying, but I am unable to identify it with any European species. 



Philonthus validus n. sp. Form (a 71 ) very stout, shining, deep black, 

 the elytra aeneous; legs and antennae deep black throughout; head large, 

 transverse, parallel, with very broadly rounded basal angles, the 

 eyes moderate; mandibles long and slender; palpi long, black, rufescent 

 distally; antennae geniculate, longer than the head, thick, incrassate, the 

 outer joints short and strongly transverse, the last truncate, with an 

 acute prolongation at one side; basal joint unusually long, longer than the 

 next two, the third elongate, much longer than the second; prothorax not 

 quite so wide as the head, a third wider than long, the sides parallel, 

 broadly arcuate from above, oblique and straighter posteriorly when 

 viewed obliquely, the base rounded; three punctures of the series rather 

 coarse; scutellum moderate, black, very densely, asperately punctate; 

 elytra distinctly shorter than wide, longer than the prothorax, at base 

 fully as wide as the latter and at apex slightly wider; punctures rather 

 strong, deep, subasperate, moderately separated and very conspicuous, 

 the hairs fine, dark and rather close; abdomen not quite so wide as the 

 elytra, parallel, with slightly arcuate sides, the punctures not coarse but 

 strong and rather widely separated, much sparser than those of the 

 elytra; sixth ventral with a narrow and very deep acute notch, twice as 

 deep as wide, its edges beveled and translucent, the fifth segment with a 

 broad cuspidiform emargination; surfaces not impressed; anterior tarsi 

 rather thick but not dilated. Female like the male but not so large and 

 less broad, the head much smaller, evidently narrower than the prothorax; 

 sixth ventral rounded, the anterior tarsi nearly as in the male. Length 

 (c? 9 ) 10. 8-12.0 mm.; width 2.5-3.0 mm. New York (near the city and 

 at "Cairo") and Pennsylvania (Harrisburg). 



There is no other species within our faunal limits that can be 

 compared closely with this; in general aspect it at first sight 



