STAPHYLINID.E 137 



Metaxya criddlei n. sp. Rather convex, not parallel, shining, black, the 

 elytra very slightly paler, the abdominal tip faintly pallescent, the legs 

 short, pale; punctures very fine, moderately close, sparse on the abdomen; 

 pubescence rather coarse, not very short; head only slightly wider than 

 long, four-fifths as wide as the prothorax, the eyes moderately prominent, 

 at nearly their own length from the base, the tempora very nearly as 

 prominent, parallel for some distance, then broadly rounding, the carinae 

 wholly wanting; antennae blackish, piceous basally, only moderately long, 

 gradually and distinctly incrassate, the first two joints subequal in length, 

 the third slightly shorter, fourth slightly, the fifth rather more distinctly, 

 longer than wide, tenth one-half wider than long, the last as long as the 

 two preceding; prothorax only very slightly wider than long, subparallel, 

 with scarcely at all arcuate sides, perhaps just visibly wider near the 

 apex than at base, the sides rounding at apex, unimpressed; elytra very 

 nearly as long as wide, with feebly diverging sides, at base a fourth wider, 

 the suture fully two-fifths longer, than the prothorax, the apices not 

 sinuate laterally; abdomen parallel, with straight sides, distinctly nar- 

 rower than the elytra, the first four tergites transversely and rather deeply 

 impressed at base, the fourth not quite so deeply as the others, the fifth 

 much longer than the fourth; sixth ventral in the type broadly arcuato- 

 truncate at apex; tarsi rather stout, the first four joints of the posterior 

 equal, the fifth shorter than the preceding three combined; middle coxae 

 contiguous, the metasternum transversely and very obtusely subangulate 

 behind them. Length 2.3 mm.; width 0.56 mm. Manitoba (Aweme), 

 Norman Criddle. 



A very aberrant species and probably not a Metaxya, in view of 

 the abdominal impressions, absence of cephalic carinae, short legs 

 and other discordant characters. It has somewhat the facies of an 

 Aleocharinid near Phlceopora, but the anterior tarsi are unquestion- 

 ably 4-jointcd; the hypomera are flat, feebly inflexed and wholly 

 visible from the sides. 



Aloconota Thorns. 



The following species has a relatively still smaller prothorax than 

 any of the European or eastern American forms: 



Aloconota flexibilis n. sp. Moderately convex and strongly shining, 

 deep black throughout, the elytra barely visibly picescent, the legs long, 

 slender, blackish, paler distally; punctures fine, not close except on the 

 elytra, where they are but feebly asperate, minute and very sparse on 

 the abdomen, where the minute sculpture is in the form of relatively 

 large and slightly transverse polygons; pubescence short, plumbeous; 

 head small, fully as long as wide and fully as wide as the prothorax, the 

 eyes prominent, somewhat shorter than the less prominent parallel 

 tempora, the median line obsoletely impressed centrally, the carinae 

 wanting; antennae moderately long, extending to about basal third of the 



