STAPHYLINID^E 437 



barely visibly converging from the strongly rounded base; serial punctures 

 small, the anterior more distant; scutellum moderate, nearly smooth, 

 having only very few minute and remote punctures; elytra relatively 

 large, with sides strongly diverging from base to apex, not as long as wide, 

 not quite as long as the prothorax, at base a fourth, at apex fully two-fifths, 

 wider than the latter, the punctures fine but distinct and widely sepa- 

 rated, the hairs sparse; abdomen broad, finely punctured, less sparsely 

 than the elytra, the last dorsal plate almost impunctate. Length (9) 

 3.5 mm.; width 0.75 mm. California' (Truckee, 6000 ft. elevation). 



Allied to distans Horn, but very much smaller and in fact one 

 of the smallest of the true Philonthi, excepting thermarum and 

 nanellus to be described below; it differs from distans also in the 

 stouter antennae, with more transverse outer joints, shorter elytra 

 and other characters; the true distans is black and is a native of 

 Vancouver Island; it is 5 mm. in length. 



Philonthus cervicalis n. sp. Elongate and subfusiform, shining, dark 

 piceous throughout, the head black, the prothorax blackish, the elytra 

 feebly pallescent, legs piceo-testaceous; antennae dark brown, just visibly 

 paler basally, rather slender, only feebly incrassulate, as long as the head 

 and prothorax, the outer joints longer than wide; head of peculiar form, 

 fully as long as wide, very evenly oval and widest behind the eyes, which 

 are not prominent and rather large, at less than their own length from the 

 constriction; neck exceptional in outline, obconical, the sides posteriorly 

 from the constriction rapidly converging to the base; prothorax distinctly 

 wider than long and wider than the head, the base and sides subequally 

 and strongly arcuate only feebly narrowed anteriorly; basal angles ob- 

 literated ; serial punctures strong, the three anterior close-set, the posterior 

 remote; scutellum large, at one-half more than its own length from the 

 end of the elytral suture, the elytra slightly transverse, longer than the 

 prothorax, at base wider than the latter and at apex still slightly broader, 

 the sides arcuate basally; punctures small but asperate, close-set and 

 conspicuous, the interspaces shining; abdomen finely and closely punctate, 

 the sixth plate very remotely so; sixth ventral (cf ) with a subangulate 

 sinus, a third as wide as the segment and about three times as wide as 

 deep, the adjacent surface only very faintly impressed and smooth for a 

 short distance; anterior tarsi moderately dilated. Length (cf) 6.5 mm.; 

 width 1.3 mm. New York (Ithaca), H. H. Smith. 



This species is not closely related to any other and is peculiar in 

 the form of the head, and especially that of the neck, the sides of 

 the latter generally being parallel, as seen when the neck is exposed. 

 It may be placed near agilis Grav., and allied species. 



In the following six species the pronotal series have five discal 

 punctures: 



Philonthus flavibasis n. sp. Form elongate, fusiform, shining, black or 



