STAPHYLINIDAE, 



93 



5. Labial palpi normal ; ligula entire. (J. 

 Labial palpi very long ; joints of hind tarsi 1-4 equal. Stenusa. 



6. Joints of hind tarsi 1-4 subequal. Silusa. 

 First joint of hind tarsi equal to 2-3 united. Placiisa. 



7. Ligula entire ; mesosternum not carinate. s. 

 Ligula bifid ; mesosternum carinate. Bolitochara. 



8. Thorax wider than the elytra, not narrowed in front. Euryusa. 

 Thorax as wide as the elytra, narrowed in front. Philotermes. 

 Thorax narrower than the elytra, narrowed at base. Leptusa. 



All the tarsi 4-jointed. 



Oligota. 



There are also in our collections several species which repre- 

 sent new or unrecognized genera, which we are unwilling to 

 define at present. In fact the greater part of the foregoing 

 table, so far as it is an expansion of the one contained in the 1st 

 edition of this work, is a compilatiini, which may give some 

 assistance to the students of our fauna until a complete study of 

 the group has been made. In face of more important work, time 

 is now wanting to us for such a tedious and complex investigation. 

 Some of the genera (e. g , Myrmedonia) have a lateral suture 

 on the under side of the head, as observed by Fauvel, similar 

 to that described by Dr. Horn in Quedius, and noticed by Dr. 

 LeConte in CiciiidelidiB. It will be of great service in the 

 future study of our genera. 



The descriptions in the books are quite discordant in many 

 instances. Thus the whole of the division having the tarsi with 

 4:4:5 joints was established by Mulsant and Iley, and cor- 

 rectly adopted by Fauvel ; but by Erichson, Kraatz, and Duval, 

 these genera were placed in the division 4:5:5. Still more 

 confusing are the descriptions of Ischnoglossa. This genus is 

 described by Kraatz as having the tarsi 5:5:5, and by Duval 

 is considered as not distinct from Oxypoda, wliile Mulsant and 

 Ray place it as a sub-genus of Stichoglossa. Atimeles, not being 

 sutticiently distinct from Lomechusa, has been suppressed. 



Group II. — Gyrophaenae. 



The species of this group are small, of an oval form, much 

 broader than those of tlie previous group, and are easily distin- 

 guished by the prominent eyes, and by the Ihird joint of the 

 maxillary palpi being thickened. They live exclusively in fungi, 



