CANARIAN COLEOPTERA. 571 



elytra (wliich have a reddish patch, seldom altogether obsolete, towards 

 the inner hinder angle of each), will at once distingnish it from the 

 P. marcidus. It is universal throughout the archipelago, occurring 

 in the dung of cattle at most elevations. I have taken it in all the 

 islands except Fuerteventura and Gomera — in the former of which, 

 however, it was found by Mr. Gray (who likewise met with it in 

 Palma), and in the latter by Dr. Crotch. 



87 J. Philonthus scybalarius. 



Philonthus scybalarius, Nordm., Sijmhol. 94 (1838). 



varians, var. h, Erich., Gen. et Spec. Staph. 470 (1839). 



, Woll, Ins. Mad. 583 (1854). 



scybalarius, Kraatz, Nat. der Ins. Detitsch. ii. 601 (1856). 



, Woll, Cat. Mud. Col. 189 (1857). 



Habitat insulas Canarienses, in Fuerteventura et Canaria solis hac- 



tenus baud observatus. 



It is extremely difficult to regard this PhilontJius as more than a 

 state of the hipustulatus in which the elytral spot is altogether absent ; 

 nevertheless, as Dr. Kraatz has upheld it as a distinct species, I will 

 not do otherwise than treat it as such. Apart from its elytra being 

 entirely black (which is sometimes the case, also, in undoubted ex- 

 amples of the hipustulatus), it may be defined as being, on the average, 

 a trifle smaller, with its head just perceptibly less developed, and with 

 its anterior coxae and the inner surfaces of all its femora more or less 

 obsciu'ely diluted in hue, or sub testaceous*. But whether truly dis- 

 tinct or not from the hipustulatus, there can be little doubt that it 

 is equally universal throughout the Canarian archipelago — though as 

 yet it does not happen to have been observed in either Fuerteventura 

 or Grand Canary. In Lanzarote, Palma, and Hierro, however, I have 

 myself captured it ; whilst in Teneriffe and Gomera it was found by 

 Dr. Crotch. Like the hipustulatus, it is tolerably common in the 

 Madeiran Group. 



872. Philonthus marcidus, n. sp. 



P. niger, elytris obscure seneo- vel viridiajneo-tinctis, parce et sat 

 profundo punctatis, parce sed grosse griseo-pubescentibus, brevibus, 

 subconvexis ; capite rotundato-ovali ; antennis pedibusque nigro- 

 piceis, interdum paulo dilutioribus. 



Variat (rarius) elytris, prtesertim postice, suifuse rufescentioribus. — 

 Long. Corp. lin. 2|-3g, 



Ohs. — P. scyhalario affinis, sed paulo nitidior, elytris subconvexi- 



* I consider it is a mere tendency of the anterior coxae and femora to become a 

 little diluted in hue ; for such, as a character, does not obtain universally. And 

 I may further add that even the less development of the head seems to me to 

 be by no means constant. 



