INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



579 



it does, both in general aspect and magnitude, from every otlier member of the 

 Bracheh/tra with which we have here to do, it is needless to undertake the some- 

 what thankless task of detailing the points of peculiarity on which an assemblage 

 thus extensive, and which contains individuals in many respects so dissimilar, is 

 made to rest. Suffice it therefore to remark, that the comparatively large bulk of 

 the insects which compose it, added to their ungeniculated antennae, the elongated 

 outer lobe of their maxillfe, the unflattened, fiUform structure of their four hinder 

 feet, and then' more or less Necrophagous halnts, are amongst the main distinctive 

 features which serve, when combined, to characterize it. 



450. Staphylinus maxillosus. 

 S. ater nitidus, elytris nigro-tomentosis fascia magnS, communi transversa cinereo-pubescenti ornatis, 

 abdomine pube nigra cinereaque variegato, subtus in segmentis quatuor vel quinque cinereo- 

 pubescenti, pectore nigro-tomentoso. 

 Mas, capite magno (prothorace latiore), mandibulis elongatis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 7-10. 



Staphylinus maxillosus, Linn. Si/st. Nat. (edit, x.) 421 (1758). 



, Fab. Ent. Syst. i. ii. 521 (1792). 



CreopJiilus maxillosus, Stepb. III. Brit. Unt. v. 202 (1832). 

 Staphylinus maxillosus, Erich. Gen. et Spec. Staph. 318 (1839). 



Habitat in Madera Portuque Sancto, prtesertim per Oram maritimam, toto anno frequens. 



S. large, deep black, and slightly shining. Head ani prothorax highly poHshed ; the former minutely 

 punctured before and at the sides, especially in the females ; the latter with the hinder angles 

 much rounded off. Elytra variegated with black and cinereous pile, — the former preponderating 

 at the base, and at the four hinder angles ; whilst the latter constitutes a broad postmedial fascia 

 (common to both, and more or less interrupted or distinct) intersected on either disk with a lon- 

 gitudinal series of black punctures (or small rounded fovese). Abdomen variegated with black 

 and cinereous pubescence above ; and below with the four basal segments, and often a part of the 

 fifth, densely clothed with cinereous pile. Breast beset with long and black pubescence. Antenna' 

 short, robust, and distinctly subclavated ; more or less piceous. 

 Male, with the head much larger, and quadrate (being perceptibly broader than the prothorax) ; 

 and with the mandibles greatly elongated. 



Tolerably common iii the vicinity of Eunchal, especially towards the sea-beach, 

 — where it occui's beneath animal and vegetable rejectamenta, at times in con- 

 siderable profusion. In such positions it has been taken by M. Rousset, in com- 

 pany with the Saprimis nitiduliis. In gardens and vineyards also, of a slightly 

 higher elevation, it may be occasionally captured, particularly upon the wing. 

 In Porto Santo I have likewise observed it, in the neighbourhood of the southern 

 shore, thovigh less abundantly than in Madeka proper. It is universal throughout 

 Europe ; and is recorded from the north of Africa and the Canary Islands. 



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