a. StenusKiesenwetleri, Rosen. 



b. Nat. length of do. 



c. Hind tarsus of S. biguttatus. 



d. Hind tarsus of S. cicindeloi- 



des. 



e. Under-side of the terminal 



segments of Uie abdomen 

 in the male of S. biguttatus. 



The cylindrical shape, coarse punctuation, 

 and prominent eyes of the Steni, give them a 

 "family likeness" by which they can be some- 

 what easily separated from all the other Staphy- 

 linidce; and, indeed, we have but one other genus 

 at all similar, viz., Diandu?, which is distinguished 

 generically from Stenus by its mentum being 

 transverse and sub-quadrate instead of produced 

 into a triangular shape in the middle ; its para- 

 glossse also are smaller and not so free. The 

 only species known has less prominent eyes, 

 longer antennae, and finer punctuation, than any 

 Stenus, possessing also two anal setae. In Stenus 

 the ligula, paraglossae, and labial palpi, are so 

 slightly articulated to the mentum, that in the 

 moment of death the gullet is sometimes pro- 

 truded with these organs attached, forming a 

 kind of proboscis; and old describers have been 

 led to give the specific na,m.e proboscideus to more 

 than one insect presenting this appearance. 

 The Steni (of which we have about sixty species) are distributed 

 widely over England, seeming mostly fond of very wet situations, the 

 banks of rivers, marshes, and even watei-falls, being their chief haunts; 

 some, however, are found in vegetable refuse, and at the bottoms of hay- 

 ricks, and others delight in dry mud, sandy or chalky districts. 



As a rule, the members of the section with simple tarsi move 

 faster than those with the tarsi bi-lobed, the latter being more frecjuently 

 found on plants in wet places, though often taken by sweeping in com- 

 paratively dry localities. They are found, sometimes abundantly, in 

 very wet places by sweeping at night, some species being gregarious in 

 their habits, and are even occasionally to be seen in the water-net, when 

 dragging for Sydradephaga. 



The genus is usually divided into two sections, the first comprising 

 species in which the last joint but one of the tarsi is simple, whilst in 

 the second the corresponding joint is bi-lobed. A figure of the tarsus 

 in the type of each of these sections is given in the cut. These sections 

 are, like most others, artificial ; since, under a high magnifying power, 

 the penultimate joints of the tarsi in all appear more or less bi-lobed, 

 owing to the insertion of the apical joint, but the second section exhibits 

 the bi-lobed structiu-e in so decided a manner, that but little mistake 

 can arise on this point. Some species, however, at the end of the first 



