240 MR. HARDY ON THE BERWICKSHIRE STAPHYLINIDiE. 



sub-rotundate, compressed in front, convex, glabrous above and smooth, or im- 

 pressed with punctures, rarely many, often disposed in scries upon the disk- 

 Sides of the prothorax behind the anterior coxae, without an appendage, 

 whence the prothoracic stigmata are uncovered. Femora destitute of spines, 

 posterior tarsi with the first and last joints subelongated, anterior dilated in 

 both sexes, iu the males only, or simple. Abdomen linear, chiefly tapered 

 to the apex, the sixth segment beneath emarginate in the male. 



• Thorax without rows of dorsal punctures on the disk. 



1. Ph. laminatus (Staph. Creutzer. Ent. Vers. 128) : Black, shining ; head 

 rounded, narrower than the thorax, thorax rounded on the sides, both highly 

 polished, smooth, brassy-green, and beneath a lens finely and obsoletely punc- 

 tulate ; elytra broadest behind, green, rarely blue, thickly and finely punctate ; 

 antennae, legs, and abdomen black, the last with the fourth segment beneath 

 in the male prolonged, and almost concealing the fifth ; anterior tarsi dilated 

 in both sexes. L. 4^ — 5 lines. 



StepJtens, III. M. v. 226.— Manual, No. n2S.—Ent. Edinemis, Sie.-^EricJison 

 Gen. et Spec. Staph. iZO.—Heer, Fn. Col. Hclv. i. 257.— Staphylinus laminatus, 

 Gyll. Ins. Suec. ii. 298. — Philonthus aeneus, Stephens, III. M. v. 227. 



Common. Found under stones at the approach of winter. Readily recog- 

 nised by its bright gloss. The two oblique punctures on each side of the disk 

 of the thorax in front are never alluded to in descriptions, whence this species 

 is often taken for Ph. aeratus, Kirby. That, however, is a variety of Staph, 

 intermedins, De Jean and Lacordaire (Faun. Ent. Paris, i. 338) with these 

 oblique punctures placed abnormally, somewhat in a line. In Mr. Hislop's 

 Berwickshire collection, there is a specimen of Ph. splendens, with the out- 

 most punctures in like manner brought inwards. 



2. Ph. splenpens (Staph. Fah. Syst. El. ii. 594) : Black, shining; head broad, 

 quadrangular, less in the female, and with the thorax brassy black, highly po- 

 lished, the latter with the sides subsinuated ; elytra bright brassy, rather 

 deeply and widely punctate ; the sixth abdominal segment beneath deeply in- 

 cised in the male ; anterior tarsi of the male slightly dilated, in the female 

 simple. L. 4i — 6 lines. 



StqyJiem, 111. M. v. 227.— Manual, dldl.~Ent. Edinensis, ZIQ.—Erichson, 

 Gen. et Spec. Staph. 429 — Heer, Fn. Col. Helv. i. 258.— Staphylinus splendens, 

 GyU. Ins. Suec. ii. 297. 



Less frequent than the preceding, but generally distributed. 



It subsists principally upon Aphodii and other insects, and upon lai-vae. 



• * Thorax Avitli two rows of punctures on the disk, four in each. 



3. Ph. jeneus (Staph. Rossi, Faun. Etrusc. i. 249) : Black, head large and 

 Bubquadrate in the male, narrow and ovate in the female, as well as the thorax 

 nigro-aneou-s, polished, the latter about the size of the head in the male, with 

 the sides slightly impressed, somewhat expanded before the middle, and sub- 

 sinuated behind it, its punctures rather deep ; elytra brassy, sometimes cop- 

 pery, very thickly punctate ; abdomen thickly and finely punctulate, griseous 

 pubescent, antennoe and legs black ; anterior tarsi of the male strongly dilated, 

 of the female simple. L. 4—54 lines. 



Erichson, Gen. et Spec. Staph. 437. — Stephens, Manual, No. 3133.— //eer, 

 Fn. Col. Helv. i. 258. — Staphylinus aeneus, Gyll. Ins. Suec. ii. 314. — Philonthus 

 puncticoUis, Kirby, Stephens, 111. M. v. 228.— Philonthus politus, Stephens, 111. 

 M. V. 228. — Staphylinus politus, Miis. Linncei, ncc dcscrip. ejus, Westwood, 

 Ent. Trans, iv. 47.' 



