578 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



thorace punctis latcralibus confusis impresso, elytris dilutioribus subtiliter puactatis, antenuis 

 pedibusque ferrugineo-piceis. 

 Variat (immaturus) colore oiiuiiuo pallidiorc, interduin fere ferrugineo. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 3-3|. 



Staphylinus linearis, OKv. Ent. iii. 42. 19 (1795). 



; — , Fab. Ent. Si/st. Siijjpl. 180 (1798). 



, Mshm, Ent. Brit. i. 516 (1802). 



Xantholinvs linearis, Erich. Gen. et Spec. Staph. 332 (1839). 



Habitat in graminosis IVladeriE, sub lapidibus truucisque arborum prolapsis, vulgaris. 



X. brassy-black (when immature paler, occasionally almost ferruginous), and shining. Head and 

 prothorax highly polished; the former large and subovate (being more gradually truncated 

 behind than in the last species), much more finely and less densely punctui'ed than in the 

 X.pundulatus, and with the inner frontal sulci shorter and less dee])ly impressed; the latter 

 with a longitudinal row of about twelve punctures on either side of its disk, but with the lateral 

 ones disposed irregularly (and not arranged in a curve). Elytra diluted in coloui'ing, rather 

 more finely punctured than in the last species, — the punctures moreover having scarcely any 

 tendency to be dis])oscd in rows. Antenna' a trifle longer than those of that insect ; piceous at 

 their base, but fuscescent or ferruginous towards their apex. Leys more or less piceo-ferruginous. 



Common throughout the whole of Madeii'a, though princijially at intermediate 

 altitudes. In the Riheiro de Santa Luzia, the Curval das Romeu'as, and in most of 

 the ravines about Punchal, it may be found (beneath stones in grassy spots) during 

 the winter months : and I have likewise captiu-ed it, dui'ing the summer, at the 

 llibeii'o Frio and in the lofty uplands of the Fanal. 



Genus 199. STAPHYLINUS. 

 Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. (edit, s.) 421 (1758). 



Corpus magnum, elongato-lineare : capite nonnuuquam (in maribus |)ra;sertim) magno suborbiculato- 

 quadrato, ad basin plerumque subito truncato ; oculis oblongis : prothorace basi rotundato, apice 

 truncate : alis amplis : abdomine lineari marginato. Antenna in frontis margine anteriore (pone 

 mandibularum basin) inscrta;, breviuscuhe, reetpe, apieem vci-sus plus minusve (in specie nostrA 

 distinctc) iucrassata;, articulo primo leviter elongato. Instrumenta cibaria fere ut in Othio, sed 

 mandibulcE in medio sjepissime fortius dentatse necnon in maribus plerumque elongata; ; maxillarum 

 lobus extemits longior et rectior; palpi maxillares filiformes; et liyula apice sinuata. Pedes 

 robusti ; coxis intermediis magis minusve distantibus : tibiis spinulosis : tarsis 5-articulatis 

 (anticis pra;sertim in maribus plerumque dilatatis, subtus spougioso-tomeutosis) ; posterioribits 

 subelongatis filiformibus, articulo primo longiusculo. 



The present immense genus, 103 members of which are described iu Erichson's 

 Oenera et Species Staphi/Unornm, has apparently but a single exponent in the 

 Madcu-a Islands, — namely the common aS*. maxillostis of Linnaeus, so abundant 

 throughout Eui'opc, Algeria, and in the Canai'ian group. And hence, receding as 



