Homalota.'] sxAPnYLiNiD.-E. 93 



apex of hind body testaceous ; head large and broad, parallel -sided, flat, 

 diffusely punctured ; antennae testaceous, stout, joints 1-3 elongate and 

 rather stout, 4-10 transverse, the latter very strongly so, eleventh large, 

 as long as the two preceding ; thorax subquadrate, almost impunctate ; 

 elytra longer than thorax with very indistinct sculpture ; hind body 

 shining and almost impunctate, segments 5-6 usually darker than the 

 others ; legs light yellow. L. 2 \ mm. 



Dr. Sharp's specimens are all females ; I can find no description of 

 the male characters. 



Very rare ; Lee and Esber ; chalkpit, Cliarltou, Surrey, (Sharp) ; roots of grass in 

 sandpit near Dorking (Champion) ; Tonbridge (Horner). 



H. aeg-ra, Heer. {Mir.rodota regra, Muls. et Rey). Shining, scarcely 

 visibly punctured, finely and sparingly pubescent, black or pitchy black 

 with the elytra and sometimes thorax rather lighter, apex of hind body 

 obscurely yellowish ; head rather large, parallel-sided ; antennae slightly 

 thickened towards apex, pilose, third joint shorter than second, fourth as 

 long as broad, 5-10 transverse, the latter very plainly so, eleventh shorter 

 than usual, not as long as the two preceding together ; thorax slightly 

 transverse, a little narrower than elytra, impunctate ; elytra very plainly 

 longer than thorax, smooth ; hind body shining, almost impunctate, but 

 under a high power finely alutaceous, and studded very sparingly with 

 fine granules from which arise rather long hairs; legs yellow. L. 2 mm. 



Male with the upper and under plates of seventh segment of hind 

 bod}'' narrower than in female, under one more produced. 



In moss, &c. ; occasionally by sweeping ; rare ; Purley Downs, Esher, Shirley, 

 Mickleham, Dagenham, Caterham ; Brighton; Cambridge j Scotland, rare, Lowlands, 

 Forth district (Edinburgh). 



Group 9. 



This group consists at present of three species, of which H. iminersa 

 and H. cuspidata are always found under bark, and may be recognized 

 by their very flat appearance ; H. crihriceps is a very peculiar insect, 

 and somewhat doubtful, as it rests on one specimen without locality ; 

 H. plana has until comparatively recently been placed in this group, but 

 was separated ofl" as a distinct genus — Epipeda — by Mulsant and Key. 

 I have followed Dr. Sharp in adopting this arrangement, as his judgment 

 is so much to be depended upon in all matters relating to the 

 StaphylinidcB, but that of the last European catalogue appears in some 

 ways preferable, in which Epipeda is merged as a sub-genus under 

 Thedura, Thoms., and so is brought again into closer connection with 

 H. cuspidaia, which is the sole representative of that genus in its 

 narrowest sense : it seems certain that if H. plana be removed, II. 

 crihriceps should also be taken out of the group, as it was chiefly placed 

 in its present position through its relation with that species ; it is, 

 however, left in the group provisionally, so little being known about it, 

 that it is almost impossible to place it elsewhere at present. 



