OcyUtsa.] STAPHYLINIDyE. 41 



I. Elytra not or scarcely broader tliim thorax ; form parallel 



or almost pariillol. 



i. Antennaj short; elytra at suture shorter than thorax, 

 which is transverse; legs and antenna) pitchy or 

 pitchy-red O- INCBAS3ATA, Muls. 



ii. Antennfc long ; elytra at least as long as thorax, which 

 is not transverse; legs and base of antennse clear tes- 

 taceous yellow 0. HIBEENICA, Ri/e. 



II. Elytra plainly broader than thorax and bind body; 



antennae long. 

 i. Thorax not narrowed behind ; antenna? except base, 



and legs, dark O- MATJBA, Er. 



ii. Thorax slightly narrowed behind; antennae and legs 



(except femora which are darker) reddish testaceous . 0. PICINA, Aube. 



O. incrassata, Kr. {O.rypoda atern'ma, Wat., Leptusa ni/jra, Bris.) 

 Upper surface entirely black, rather dull, clothed with rather sparing 

 greyish pubescence ; head rather large, almost as broad as thorax, 

 antennae short, pitchy or reddish pitchy, third joint shorter than second, 

 5-10 strongly transverse ; thorax broader than long with an impression 

 before scutellum and a more or less obsolete central furrow, very finely 

 punctured ; elytra at suture slightly shorter than thorax, finely punctured, 

 but evidently more strongly so than thorax ; hind body parallel-sided, very 

 finely and closely punctured, the punctuation becoming a little less close 

 behind ; legs pitchy red, posterior tarsi not long, with the first joint equal 

 to the two following united, L. 2| mm. 



In moss, among leaves, under bark, &c. ; occasionally by sweeping ; local, and as a 

 rule not common ; London district, rare, Slieerness, Shirley ; Suowdon ; Dean Forest ; 

 Mi Uand districts, not uncommon, Coleshill, Needwood and Slierwood Forests ; 

 Knowle ; Foremark near Repton, Burton-on-Treut (iu some nnmbors in dry moss on 

 an old wall in a wood) ; Liverpool ; Scotland, local, Lowlands, Highlands, and Alpine ; 

 Solway, Forth, Tay, Clyde, and Dee districts. 



It is probable that this species will form the type of a new genus : 

 Mulsant and Rey suggest the name Mniusa. 



O. hibernica, Rye. Linear, pitchy-black, with the legs and four 

 basal joints of the antennae testaceous ; head shining, rather plainly but 

 not closely punctured, nearly smooth on disc ; thorax somewhat convex, 

 more closely punctured than the head, with an obsolete fovea at base ; 

 elytra almost longer than thorax, and more strongly but less closely 

 and somewhat rugosely punctured ; hind body shining, upper surface 

 somewhat closely punctured, almost smooth at apex. L. 3 mm. 



A single specimen was taken by Mr. Champion, in June, 1876, out of moss at the 

 top of Sliove Donard (a mountain 2800 feet high, co. Down, L-eland), in company 

 with Oxi/poda rupicola, and other hill-lrequenting species, and Dr. Sharp has taken 

 a specimen at Braemar. 



This species is very closely allied to 0. nigrata, Fairm., but differs in 

 its longer and lighter antennae and lighter femora ; the punctuation also 

 is a little finer and closer ; Mr. Rye, in describing the spi^cies, remarks 

 that it is of the size, and somewhat of the build of Ilomalota cambrica, 



