[33] NORTH AMERICAN COLEOPTERA. 189 



oi albionica are described as having the " fifth joint dilated, 

 sixth larger than the following, rounded, 7 — 9, large, trans- 

 verse." This description evidently cannot be applied to 

 tumidicornis. One of the localities given by the above- 

 mentioned authority is Colorado; this is probably a mis- 

 print for California, as there is very little likelihood of 

 albionica occurring east of the Sierra Nevada Mts. 



In the description of albionica given by Mannerheim (Bull. 

 Mosc. 1852, p. 371), the only joints which are described as 

 dilated are the fifth and sixth. In the present species the 

 seventh is distinctly the widest. The posterior tibias are 

 not described by Mannerheim as being flattened, but simply 

 dilated, which is more nearly the case in tumidicornis. 

 There have probably been several species confounded by 

 the various authors, as these species do not appear to have 

 a very wide distribution, but are more or less local. 



Although so abundant about Santa Cruz, I have not yet 

 found this species to the north of San Francisco, although 

 I have collected over very extensive regions, giving special 

 attention to the Staphylinidse and Pselaphidte. Its gait 

 is rather more rapid than is usual in this genus. 



R. informis n- S P- — Rather slender, dark rufo-oastaneous; elytra bright 

 rufous, slightly darker near the apex; autenuaa aud legs pale rufo-testaceous; 

 iutegutneuts polished; pubescence very fine, short aad sparse. Hiad mod- 

 erate; eyes very convex, at scarcely their own length from the base; 

 sides behind them feebly convergent aud Jirjuate; base broally truncate; 

 angles distiuctly rouuded; surface feebly, eveuly convex, excessively minutely, 

 sparsely punctate; punctures slightly larger and closer toward the sides; hav- 

 ing, on a Hue through the middle of the eyes, two moderate, not very deeply 

 impiessed fov< ae, mutually three times as distant as either from the eye; 

 near the apex a more broadly impressed fovea, with the pubesceut portion 

 equal to that of the occipital fovese; apex declivous, broadly angulate; an- 

 tenna3 as long as the head and prothorax together, club robust; basal joints 

 moderate, second slightly the smaller; third slender, much longer than wide; 

 fourth small, slightly transverse; fifth bli»htly dilated, a little longer than 

 wide; sixth as long ai wide, as wide as the fifth, obliquely truncate at apex, 

 joints seven to nine, very slightly wider than long, equal in width to the fifth; 

 the eighth slightly smaller; nine to eleven very rapidly increasing in width. 

 Prothorax widest very slightly before the middle, where it is very slightly 



41— Bull. Cal. Acad. Sci. II. 6. Issued November 27, 1886. 



