MONOGRAPH OF WEST INDIAN STAPHYLINIDAE 171 



2. HOLOTROCHUS VOLVULUS Erichson 



Holotrochus volvulus Erichson, 1S40, p. 758. — Dxiponcheil, 1841, p. 57. — Lacob- 

 DAiRE, 1854, p. 113.— Shaep, 1S7G, p. 387.— Blatchley. 1910, p. 474.— Bekn- 

 HAUER and Schubert, 1911, p. 143. — Leng and Muxcni-Eaj, 1914, p. 404. 



Description. — Rufopiceous to rufous. Head with moderately fine 

 punctures separated by 3 to 5 times their diameter but rather ob- 

 scured by the ground sculpture ; antennal segments 6 to 10 transverse. 

 Pronotmn one-sixth wider than long, nearly one-half wider than 

 head; widest at apical fourth, thence evenly narrowed to base; with 

 a distinct impression above basal angles; apparently impunctate, the 

 small punctures obscured by the strong and dense scaly ground 

 sculpture. Prosternwn with raised posterior margin prolonged an- 

 teriorly at middle in a spatulate lobe over the sternite. Elytra one- 

 eighteenth wider than pronotum, as long as wide; with a few large 

 fovealike punctures, occasionally muricate; with fine but distinct 

 ground sculpture. Abdomen with ground sculpture and very large 

 but very shallow punctures. Male^ seventh sternite with large con- 

 cavity at middle; eighth concave both longitudinally and trans- 

 versel}', apex slightly produced and with tiny tuberculi (as found 

 also on disk of apical ventral segments) ; ninth narrow, rounded 

 truncate, lateral plates short and convex, bluntly toothed at apex 

 and with a group of long hairs near apex; ninth tergite truncate, 

 but with a rounded flat tubercle at each angle. Female^ eighth 

 sternite rather strongly lobed, with a few tiny tuberculi; ninth 

 sternite not present, lateral plates as in male; ninth tergite with 

 angles produced in acute teeth, arcuately emarginate between. 

 Length, 5 mm. 



Type locality. — Puerto Rico. 



Types. — Either in Hope Museum, Oxford, or the Zoologische 

 Museum, Berlin. 



Records. — The following are the records known to me : 



Puerto Rico: (Erichson, 1840; Lacordaire, 1854; Blatchloy, 1910; Leng and 

 Mntchler, 1914), Adjnntas (Oakley, in U.S.N.M.), Ponce (Oakley, in 

 U.S.N.M.), El Yunque (Darlington, in M.C.Z. and U.S.N.M.). 



Specimens examined. — I have seen only three examples collected 

 by R. G. Oakley in Puerto Rico on January 4, 1933, and another 

 pair collected by Dr. P. J. Darlington in May 1938. 



Remarks. — I have little doubt that this is the true volvuhis of 

 Erichson. It is not separable from Neotrochus by any characters of 

 the dorsum I have obsei-ved. This is the first record of the species 

 since its original description. 



Mr. Oakley's specimens were collected in dung and all of them at 

 an elevation of about 3,000 feet. 



