9 



I must refer those whose desire lengthened accounts to the follow- 

 ing works, in which our species, with many others likely to occur in 

 England, are described. 



Erichson ; Genera et Species Staphylinorum. 

 Kraatz ; Naturgeschichte der Insecten Deutschlands, vol. ii. 

 Thomson ; Skaudinaviens Coleoptera, ii. Tom. 

 Eairmaire et Laboulbene; Eauue Entomologique rran9aise,vol. iii. 

 Whenever either of these names occur after a species it will be 

 understood that a good description of that species is to be found in the 

 author referred to, as above. 



I Section, penultimate joint or tarsi simple. 



A. Abdomen margined. 



a. eJytra spotted. 



BiGUTTATUS, Linn., Erichson. 2\ lin. Black, with a slightly 

 metallic tinge, clothed with delicate ashy pubescence.* Palpi black, the 

 basal joint, and half of the second, testaceous. Head much hollowed 

 in front, with a delicate longitudinal elevation.. Thorax nearly cylin- 

 drical, very closely punctured, with a longitudinal dorsal channel, most 

 distinct in the middle. Elytra closely and rugosely punctured, each 

 with a small round fulvous spot a little below the middle. Abdomen 

 narrowed towards the apex, delicately punctured, and rather shining. 

 Legs black, long and slender, the trochanters pitchy-testaceous. 



In the male the sixth segment of the abdomen beneath has its 

 apical margin widely and rather deeply notched, the edges being rounded 

 off, and the fifth has a wide shallow sinuation ending on each side in an 

 obtuse point, the space immediately behind it being smooth and 

 depressed. A very faint tendency to this structure is also to be traced 

 in the fourth segment (^vide cut). This species may be distinguished 

 from the next, in company with which it is often found, by the light 

 colour of the lower half of the second joint of the palpi, and by the 

 spot on the elytra being smaller and rather nearer the sature: it is also 

 smaller and not so robust, with the head rather wider and more deeply 

 hollowed, the thorax narrower, and the legs more slender and longer in 

 proportion. 



Common in Northumberland, Durham, and Cumberland, near 

 running water; also in Coprolite pits, Cambridge, and at Preston. Not 

 rare in the London district, both in marshy and chalky districts, but 

 more frequent in the latter, especially near Croydon. 



• All the Stent aip clothed, more or less, with grey hairs, hut they are so scanty, short, and depressed 

 as a general rule, that I shall omit referring to them unless they afford any decidcil diflerences. 



