238 MR. HARDY ON THE BERWICKSHIRE STAPHYLINIDJE. 



OyU. Ins. Succ. ii. 228.— Staphylinus subpunctatus, Ih. iv. 474. — Staphylinus 

 Cantiauus, Kirhj, Stephens, III. M. v. 207.— Manual, No. 3062. Goerius punc- 

 tulatu8, lb. 111. M. V. 209.— Manual, No. 3066.— Goerius Morio, lb. 111. M. v. 

 209.— Manual, No. 3067.— Goerius confin is, Kirby, lb. 111. M. v. 211.— Tasgius 

 confinis, lb. Manual, No. 3077. — Staphylinus semipolitus, ^o^me, Ent. Trana. 

 m.ll8. 



Rare ; under stones, on old grass pastures, in dry and upland districts, chiefly 

 in autumn. Near Penmanshiel, on Cauldside Hill, near Dulaw, and near an 

 old wall on the sea banks, beyond the Magdalene Fields, Berwick. 



Variable in size, and in the more or less frequent puncturing of the thorax. 

 Occasionally, in very large females, it is very obscurely tinted, and almost des- 

 titute of the brassy lustre on the head, thorax and elytra. This variety ap- 

 pears to be the Goerius Morio of Stephens. Holme says that his Staphylinus 

 scmipolitus is distinguished from St. Cantianus of Kirby, only by the brassy lus- 

 tre of the tibice. In Dr. Greville's collection is a slender specimen of 0. fuscatus 

 named dubiously by the Rev. G. T. Rudd as Kirby's St. Cantianus. The same 

 entomologist, who had gone over all Kirby's collection, informed me that this 

 was the Ocypus confinis of that author. 



This species is rapacious in its mode of subsistence, as 1 detected it devour- 

 ing Quedius frontalis. 



4. 0. PiciPEKNis (Staph. Fab. Syst. El. ii. 591) : Winged, black, fulvo-brun- 

 neous pubescent, head and thorax brassy, shining,- thickly and finely punc- 

 tured, sub-carinated, an irregular line of impressions on each side of the tho. 

 racic keel, elytra dull brassy, thickly pubescent, abdomen lineated with fulvo- 

 brunneous down, the segments crossed by a row of about four deep impres- 

 sions, legs piceous black, tarsi rufescent, antennae piceous, rufous at the base. 

 L. 6—8 lines, 



Erichson, Gen. et Spec. Staph. 412. — Staphylinus aeneocephalus, Payk. 

 Mon. Staph. l\.—Oyll Ins. Suec. ii. 221.— Stephens, 111. M. v. 207.— Manual, 

 No. 3059. — Ent. Edinensis, 311. — Holme, Ent. Trans, iii. 116. — Staphylinus se- 

 riceus. Marsh, Ent. Brit. i. 508.— Emus seneocephalus, Lacord. Faun. Ent. 

 Paris, i. 373. — Emus chaleocephalus, Tb. 374. — Staphylinus chalcocephalus et 

 seneicollis. Holme, Ent. Trans, iii. 116. 



Under stones and in moss, in arid situations, both on the coast, and barren 

 upland pastures and heaths. It couples in autumn. 



This species shows great disparity in size, some specimens being a third 

 more slender than others. The tint also varies, some rubbed specimens being 

 of a bright burnished brass, while some large females are almost black, with 

 the slightest trace of metallic decoration. The stripes on the abdomen are 

 often obliterated. 



There are some slight differences between our insects and the continental 

 ones as described by Gyllenhal and Erichson. Both describe the antennae as 

 being somewhat dusky at base, and speak of the pubescence of the head and 

 thorax as being thin, which is scarcely the case on specimens not abraded. 

 Neither of them allude to the brassiness of the elytra, nor is it mentioned in 

 any of the allied species, and Erichson represents the pubescence of the elytra 

 as running in stripes " plagiatim," a character not noticed by Gyllenhal, and 

 which occurs in none of our specimens. The St. sericeus of Marsham, how- 

 ever, which presents several of these exceptional characters, is cited by these 

 writers without any doubt. " Antennae et palpi ferruginei. Totum corpus su- 

 prk fusco-eeneum." Ent. Brit. i. 608. 



