10 STAPH YLiNiDJE. [AleochaHna. 



strongly transverse ; thorax large, broad, and convex, with the posterior 

 angles projecting, finely punctured ; elytra short, about as long as thorax 

 and somewhat more distinctly punctured ; hind body strongly narrowed 

 from base to apex, with distinct raised margin, finely punctured ; legs 

 testaceous red. L. 2-2^ mm. 



Very local, and usually tnken S5pai*'mgly where it is found ; Chatham; Toubridgc; 

 Wobura, near Bedford ; Tilgate Forest; Upuor and Bromley, Surrey : Dr. Power lias 

 taken a considerable number at the foot of a tree at MickleLtim in runs of i^o;7;//(a 

 fuliginoi^a, by cutting up the turf for a breadth of three inches on each side of the 

 run and shaking it over paper ; it has also been found with Formica fusca, 



AZiSOCZIARik, Gravenhorst. 



The genus Aleochara contains about 200 known species, which are 

 widely distributed over the greater part of the world ; the chief dis- 

 tinguishing mark of the genus is the fact that the palpi are provided 

 with a minute accessory joint, or, as some authors prefer to call it, an 

 "articulated lobe," so that the maxillary palpi are 5-jointed and the 

 labial palpi 4-jointed, a peculiarity that is not found in any other genera 

 of Coleoptera hitherto discovered. 



It is probably owing to the desire to class together all the species 

 exhibiting this character that has caused the genus Aleochara to be made 

 up of several apparently very different groups ; one of these, the sub- 

 genus Pulystoma of Stephens, containing H. air/arum, (/ritiea, and 

 ohscurella, Thomson separates entirely from Aleochara, and places it 

 between Platanea {Homalota hrunnea, &c.) and Halohrectha {Homahda 

 ■puncticeps and its allies) ; in many ways this appears a better position 

 for it, but the presence of the accessory joints of the palpi certainly 

 '^irecludes it from being taken out of the neighbourhood of Aleochara. 

 The arrangement observed below is partly that of Mulsant and Rcj', l)ut 

 I have followed Heyden, Reitter, and Weise in combining Aleochctra i. sp. 

 and Baryodma : the character afforded by the reflexed margin of the 

 thorax is perhaps not a very evident one, but it is constant, and may be 

 distinguished even in carded specimens if the insect be examined side- 

 ways from a little beneath. 



I. Hind body with strong prominences in 



male ; sides of thorax moderately reflexed 



beneath Sub-Gen. Ceranota, Sle^h. 



II. Hind body without prominences in male. 

 i. Sides of thorax very strongly reflexed 



beneath, presenting a hollow surface 



on the underside Sub- Gen. Aleochara i. sp. 



Sub-Gen. BAKiODMA, Thorns. 

 ii. Sides of thorax moderately or almost 

 horizontally reflexed beneath, present- 

 ing a flat or almost flat surface on the 

 underside. 



1. Antennas and legs elongate; upper 



surface shining; facies of an Ocalea. Sub-Gen. RuEOCHAEA, 3fuls. et Bty. 



2. Antennae and legs short ; upper sur- 

 face dull, strongly pubescent , . . Sub-Gen. Polystoma, Sleph. 



