Coleopterological Notices. 41 



rently shallow perforation, which is situated in the middle near the 

 base, and about as wide as the length of the fifth tarsal joint ; they 

 are similar in form and position ; the bottom is flat and densely 

 spongiose, and the anterior margin bears a fringe of long closely- 

 placed subrecumbent setae, which extend over and partially protect 

 the sensitive spongiose area. The long second segment is more 

 densely pubescent than the remainder of the abdomen. 



STAPHYLINID^E. 

 BLEDIIJS Leach. 



A partial revision of the North American species of this extensive 

 and interesting genus has been published by Dr. LeConte (Trans. 

 Am. Ent. Soc.YI, p. 21*7 ef f<eq.), and, although apparently somewhat 

 hastily drawn up, the descriptions there given will serve in most 

 cases for purposes of identification. The species as a rule are much 

 larger in size and more open in their habits than those of Trogo- 

 phloeus, and it is almost certain that the proportion of known to 

 unknown forms is much greater than in that genus, but in spite of 

 this the number of species existing in America north of Mexico will 

 probably be found to be in the neighborhood of one hundred and 

 fifty. While, therefore, the time is not yet ripe for a useful mono- 

 graph of our species, it is highly desirable that the large number of 

 species discovered in recent years should be assimilated, and the 

 revision above alluded to forms a convenient guide for the distribu- 

 tion of them with regard to their systematic relationship. 



The groups adopted by LeConte rest in several cases upon char- 

 acters which have been inaccurately stated, and therefore have not 

 the value which apparently belongs to them. The armatus group, 

 for instance, is quite composite, the coxal fissures being open in 

 some and shorter and closed in others. When open, however, as in 

 sfr'enuus, they are not of the same form as in the annularis group, 

 where they are longer, acutely triangular and gradually more widely 

 open toward the coxse. The antennae in cribricollis and monstra- 

 tus, with their three-jointed club, are quite different in structure 

 from those of armatus and strenuus. 



The definition, also, of the cordatus group by the form of the 

 basal angles of the prothorax is unfortunate, for the form of these 

 angles varies from the broadly rounded and completely obsolete as 



