MONOGRAPH OF WEST INDIAN STAPHYLINIDAE 433 



at all narrowed posteriorly, basal angles completely rounded; with 

 ground sculpture as on head. Elytra with moderately coarse punc- 

 tures separated by their diameter or more, laterally with less flat 

 intervals; without ground sculpture. Abdomen with sparse and 

 moderately fine submuricate punctures, without distinct ground 

 sculpture but vaguely alutaceous. Male., eighth sternite with a 

 feeble triangular emargination three times as wide as deep. Female, 

 eighth sternite rounded. Length, 6l^ to 71/2 mm. 



2'ype locality. — "Americae meridionali." Of formosn^, Carolina; 

 of apicalis, Cayenne ; of pallipes, Pennsylvania. 



Types. — Disposition not known to me. Of formosus, presumably 

 in the Zoological University Museum, Breslau; of apicalis, not 

 known to me; of palUpes, presumably in the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. 



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



Tobago: ( Blackwelder station 116B). 



Trinidad: (Bryant, in Cameron collection), Moruga (Blackwelder station 111), 

 Manzanilla (Blackwelder station 103A), Port of Spain (Fairchild, in 

 M.C.Z.) Mount Tncuche (Darlington, in M.C.Z. and U.S.N.IM.). 



South American: (Fai)ricius, 1801), Colombia, Cayenne (Erichson, 1840), 

 Colombia, Brazil (Sharp, 1876, 1885), Argentina ( Scheerpeltz, 1933). 



Central America: Mexico, British Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama 

 (Sharp, 1885). 



North America: Florida, Georgia, Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Ohio, Quebec, Indiana, New Mexico, Arizona (Gravenhorst, 1806; 

 Erichson, 1840; Melsheimer, 184(5; Sharp, 1885; Leng, 1920; Blatchley, 

 1910; etc.). 



Specimens examined. — From the West Indies I have seen 3 

 examples in Dr. Cameron's collection, 3 from the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, and 14 collected by me in December 1935. Numer- 

 ous examples from North and South America were also examined. 



Remarks. — I regret the necessity for changing an old and well- 

 established name but can find no other tenable procedure. The Gem- 

 minger and Harold catalog puts the names formosus and rufipennis 

 in their proper relationship, but subsequent writers have not followed 

 that work in this respect. The Bernhauer and Schubert catalog, 

 although recognizing that the two are equal, places the older name 

 as a synonym of the younger. Unless formosus be held to be a dis- 

 tinct species, it cannot be retained unless ruficollis is a homonym. 

 Such a previous use of the name I am not able to find, and I there- 

 fore use ruficollis as the valid name. 



This species is distinguished by its red abdomen with black apex, 

 which is a combination unique among West Indian representatives 

 of this genus. 



My specimens were all taken from freshly cut or rotten cocoa pods. 



