BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 79 



short, thickly fringed and lightly covered upon both sides with 

 long blackish hairs; first four segments of uniform size, fifth 

 nearly twice as wide and tapering to the small anal segment. 



The larvfe are plentiful in spring between the sheath and the 

 caudex, preying upon the many minute creatures attracted by the 

 decaying matter. Like others of the Staphylinidce, the beetles 

 are ver}' active, and are found in the same stumps with the 

 larvcv; the pupa bred out in the Museum under glass in some 

 damp earth. 



HoLOLEPETA SI XENSis, Marsham 



This is one of the commonest beetles found in the top of the 

 decaying caudex, or between it and the outer sheath. Though I 

 have examined great numbers of the stems at all seasons of the 

 year, I have never come across the larval or pupal forms. 



Beetle half an inch in length, smooth, shining black, broad and 

 flat; the head armed in front with two curved stout pointed horns 

 projecting in front of the eyes and touching at the tips, hollowed 

 out in front at base of horns, with an excavation behind the 

 eyes, and a small blunt spine on the side; thorax with a faint 

 impressed line in the centre, and along the outer edges slightly 

 pitted with small punctures; elytra without any punctures, but 

 a slender purse-like cavity on either margin caused by the edge 

 of the elytra turning upwards; chitinous plates covering the apex 

 of the abdomen impressed with larger rounded punctures on their 

 edges: underside except the central plate between the legs also 

 finely punctured. 



I have never collected this species any where else, though others 

 in the north are often found crawling on tree trunks. 



Platysoma sp. 1 



This beetle evidently passes through all its transformations in 

 the decaying caudex, but after examining a great number of 

 plants in all stages of decay, and at all seasons of the year, I 

 have never been able to identify the larva, though once or twice 

 I have found the pupa Just ready to turn into the perfect insect, 



luji LIBRA R Y 



