Stap/ii/liiiidcB of the Amazon Vallcij. 133 



I have had great difficulty in dealing* Avith this genus 

 and its allies, Gastrisus and Eugastus, and feel far from 

 satisfied v.-ith the course I have adopted. I would have 

 preferx-ed considering them all as one genus, containing a 

 number of heterogeneous forms, but the characters on which 

 the now accepted genera of the Staph i//inini are based 

 would not allow me to do this ; to have dealt with them in 

 a satisfactory manner would have necessitated a fresh re- 

 grouping of the South American Staphi/linmi, a step 

 Avliich is at present out of the question. On the other 

 hand, to have gone backwards and applied to the whole of 

 these insects the name Staphylinus, would, I think, have 

 been too retrograde a step. Had there been in use a col- 

 lective name to designate all those Staphylinini in Avliich 

 the lateral pieces of the thorax are not abbreviated, I 

 would gladly have used it for all these insects ; but such a 

 name has never existed, for Kraatz, to whom we owe the 

 indication of this very important character, when he 

 pointed it out, at the same time distributed the species 

 possessing it among a number of uew genera, while the 

 species I am here describing are, many of them, inter- 

 mediate between the genera he then characterized. 



The three species here described as appertaining to the 

 genus Phi lot halp7ts differ considerably from one another in 

 facies, and no doubt many entomologists would be inclined 

 to consider them as belonging to three distinct genera. 



1. Philothalpus luteipes, n. sp. Capite thoraceque 

 obscure teneis ; scutello, elytris, pectore abdomineque 

 testaceo-ferrugineis, hoc segmentis 4 — 7 nigro-signatis ; 

 pedibus testaceis. Long. corp. 4|- lin. 



Mas: tarsis anticis dilatatis; abdomine segmento 7° 

 ventrali medio triangulariter inciso. 



Fem. tarsis anticis leviter dilatatis. 



Autennaa about as long as the head and thorax, not 

 thicker towards the extremity, blackish, the basal joints 

 indistinctly paler, the last joint also obscui-ely paler; each 

 joint longer than broad, 3rd considerably longer than the 

 2nd. Head as broad as the thorax, orbiculate, very 

 closely and coarsely punctured, with an impunctate space 

 in the middle; a broad depression between the antenna?, 

 the punctured parts with stiff, outstanding set£e. Thorax 

 rather longer than broad, a little narrowed behind, and 

 the sides a little simiate behind the middle, dull brassy 



