898 A REVISION OF THE STAPHYLINID^E OF AUSTRALIA, 



abdoniine obsoletius punctatis ; thorace sat transverso, antice 

 arcuatim fortiter angustato, angulis posticis subrectis ; elytris 

 thorace paulo longioribus, a basi ad apicem sat fortiter angustatis. 

 Long. ±1 mm. [Fvl.) 



Port Hacking, SydDey, New South Wale?. 



A very pretty and distinct species. 



25. Tachyporus. 



Gravenhorst, Col. Micr. p. 124 (1802); Lacordaire, Gen. Col. 

 II. p. 54. 



Mentum strongly transverse, truncate in front. Ligula mem- 

 branous, large, bilobed ; the lobes rounded, divergent, united with 

 the paraglossae. Maxillary palpi with the 2nd and 3rd joints subequal, 

 the latter incrassate, the 4th small, subulate. Labial palpi 3-jointed, 

 the 3rd ranch more slender than the first two. Maxillae with the 

 lobes corneous, nearly equal, pubescent at the extremity ; the 

 internal lobe membranous on the inner side. Mandibles short, 

 armed on the inside with a narrow membranous fringe. Head 

 transverse. Antennae rather long, slender, filiform or slightly 

 thickened towards their extremity; the first three or four joints 

 longer than the others. Prothorax large, rather convex, narrowed 

 in front, with the anterior angles acute. Elytra longer than the 

 sternum, the external apical angles truncate or slightly produced. 

 Abdomen finely margined, strongly narrowed behind. Mesosternum 

 simple. Legs moderately long ; the femora and the anterior tibiae 

 glabrous, the intermediate and posterior tibiae rather strongly 

 spinulose ; tarsi 5:5:5, the anterior and intermediate elongate, 

 with the first three joints gradually decreasing, pubescent below, 

 the 4th joint very small. 



The anterior tarsi are often more or less dilated, sometimes in 

 both sexes, sometimes in the male only, but the most important 

 sexual characters are afforded by the penultimate segment of the 

 abdomen ; in the male it is entire above and emarginate beneath, 

 whereas in the female its dorsal side is quadrifid and its ventral 

 entire and terminated by stiff hairs. 



