46 STAPHYLiNiD^. [llf/ohales. 



as long, with sides rouiidod and narrowed in front ; elytra longer and 

 broader than thorax ; hind body parallel-sided until near apex, with 

 segments 2-5 strongly impressed horizontally, the impressions being 

 rugosely punctured, punctuation sparing towards apex ; legs reddish 

 testaceous, posterior tarsi wdth first joint equal to the three following 

 united. L. 3|-4f mm. 



Male with the ventral plate of seventh segment of hind body angularly 

 produced and ciliate, thorax with an obsolete furrow behind (which is 

 wanting in female). 



lu moss, flood refuse, under stones, &c.; rare, although somewhat widely distributed. 

 Netting Fill (formerly), Birch Wood, Reigate, Amberley, Rusper ; Shipley, near 

 Horsham; Folkestone; Hastings; Parkhurst Forest, Isle of Wight; Horning and 

 Wicken Fens ; Worcester, banks of Severn ; Knowle, near Birmingham (under bones) ; 

 Stalybrushes, Cheshire ; Scarborough ; Lincoln ; Northumberland district, in dead 

 leaves in Gibside Woods and on a moor near Lanercost ; Mr. Bold remarks that the 

 latter specimens are " scarcely more than one-half " as large as the former ; Scotland, 

 rare, Solvvay, Tweed, Forth, and Clyde districts ; Ireland, Malahide near Dublin. 



This species appears to vary considerably in colour, the thorax being 

 occasionally red ; the punctuation of the thorax also is somewhat finer in 

 some specimens than in others ; according to Mulsant and Eey it is almost 

 always found in company with ants in France. 



I. propinquus, Aubc {rvfus, Kr.). This species is easily 

 distinguished from the pie^eding by the much finer punctuation and more 

 shiny appearance of the head and thorax ; the colour is entirely lighter 

 or darker red with the apex of hind body testaceous, and the elytra lighter ; 

 the antennae are perhaps a little less thickened ; the punctuation of the 

 elytra is distinctly feebler but more confused and Avrinkled, and the 

 longitudinal impressions on the front segments of the hind body -are 

 rather more strongly punctured. L. 3|-4 mm. 



Male characters much as in the preceding. 



In sandpits, &c. ; very rare ; Shirley, Mickleham (banks of Mole), Reigate, West 

 Wickham ; LittUhampton ; Fairlight, near Hastings ; the species is found rarely in 

 France under stones in company with Formica rufa and Myrmica riihra ; the British 

 specimens that I have seen are much smaller than ordinary I. nigricollis, but, as a 

 general rule, it appears to be only slightly smaller than that species. 



Z. forticornis, Lac. More linear, more shining, less pubescent, 

 and less strongly punctured than either of the preceding species ; colour 

 very variable, pitchy black, or brown, or reddish, with the apex of the 

 elytra and of the hind body lighter ; occasionally the basal segments of 

 the latter are lighter than the apical ones ; antennae brownish with 

 base lighter or entirely red, strongly and uniformly thickened from fourth 

 joint, tourth very short, fifth exceedingly short (a point that will at once 

 distinguish it from either of the preceding species), 6-10 strongly 

 transverse, but all much longer than 5th ; thorax as broad as long, 

 scarcely narrowed in front, and hardly rounded at sides, finely and 

 rather sparingly punct\;red ; elytra as long as thorax finely and not closely 



