Homalota.'] staphylinid^:. 103 



in the latest European catalogue as synonymous, although the latter 

 seems both in habitat and structure to be distinct from the former. 



II . depressa, Gyll. {Platarcea depressa, Thoms. {H. brunnea, Fab. = 

 Plat a ru a brunnea, JNIuls. et Roy?)). One of the largest and most 

 conspicuous British species ; rather flat and shining, brownish testaceous 

 with the head and portion of hind body between base and apex more or 

 less broadly black or dark-coloured ; head rather small, diffusely 

 punctured ; antenna; dark Avith light base, rather long and comparatively 

 slender, joints 2-3 of about equal length, fourth as long as broad, 

 5-10 nearly equal but more transverse in the female than in the male, 

 eleventh joint as long as the two preceding together ; thorax plainly 

 narrower than elytra, slightly transverse, diffusely and distinctly punc- 

 tured ; elytra plainly longer and more closely punctured than thorax, 

 usually darker about scutellum ; hind body somewhat variable in colour, 

 segments 2-4 more or less distinctly punctured, sixth almost impunctate ; 

 legs yellow. L. 3-4| mm. 



Male with the sixth segment of hind body furnished in middle just 

 before margin with a distinct raised tubercle, hind margin of seventh 

 segment with four strong and distinct tubercular teeth. 



In moss, dead leaves, &c. ; often found on walls and palings, and also frequently by 

 sweeping in esirly summer. I have taken it by sweeping in a wood near Lincoln in 

 May or June, and in abundance on the rocky sides of a gravel-pit close to the town 

 far from any trees ; it is by no means an uncommon species throughout the country. 



According to Mulsant and Key H. depressa is exceedingly closely 

 related to H. brunnea, but is distinguished by its antennpe being slightly 

 longer, by the hner punctuation of the head and thorax, and by the latter 

 being less transverse, and more evenly furrowed on its median line, also 

 by the elytra being a little shorter, and a little more densely punctured, 

 and above all by the sixth abdominal segment of male being without a 

 tulDcrcle ; Thomson (Skand. Col. iii. 45, 46) briefly mentions the sexual 

 differences of the male which, according to him, in P. brunnea has only 

 two teeth on the sixth segment of the hind bodj'- instead of four ; of 

 P. depressa he says, " l\Iale with the sixth dorsal segment of abdomen 

 with a small tubercle at apex, seventh armed with four tubercles, those 

 at the side being the larger." Dr. Sharp's type is certainly f7e/yressa, that 

 is to say if Thomson is right, as it is impossible to tell which species or 

 variety is meant by Gyllenhal or Erichson ; if the male characters are 

 really constant they would seem different species, but the whole question 

 seems as yet to have been hardly settled. 



K. hepatica, Er. {major, Ai;be, castaneipennis, Fairm., Liogluta 

 {Hijjinofa) hepatica, Er.). A fine large species of a dark reddish-brown 

 colour with the elytra and sometimes thorax lighter, the apex of hind 

 body testaceous, and the apex of the segments of the hind body some- 

 times lighter; head roundish, coarsely punctured; antennae reddish, 

 joints 1-3 elongate, 4-10 each a little broader and gradually more trans- 



