1 70 staphylinidj:. [Plujiosus. 



Under rubbish on the sea-shore below high-water mark, also amon^ shingle ; I have 

 also taken it tlying in the hot sun and settling on large pebbles and rocks ; not common, 

 but sometimes occurs locally in some numbers ; Margate, Broadstairs, Bognor ; 

 Weymouth ; Swanage; Hayling Island ; Ventnov and Ryde, Isle of Wight; Southsea ; 

 !Miiblethorpe, Lincolnshire ; Hartlepool ; Nortliumberland district, not rare (Bold) ; 

 Scotland, rare, Tweed district only ; Ireland, co. Down and near Dublin. 



P. balticus, Kr. (Actosus halticus, Muls. et Key, nigriventris, 

 Clievr. V). Narrow and linear, finely puliescent, reddish testaceous, 

 with the head sometimes darker, and the hind body between base and 

 apex more or less broadly black ; head about as broad as thorax, 

 antennae short, with joints 4-10 strongly transverse, entirely testaceous; 

 thorax as long as broad, narrowed behind where it is a little narrower 

 than slytra, thickly and obsoletely punctured ; elytra very short, only 

 about half as long as thorax, finely and tluckly punctured ; hind body 

 finely but plainly punctured, parallel-sided or slightly widest behind ; 

 legs testaceous. L. 2 mm. 



Male with the ventral plate of seventh segment of hind body pro- 

 duced in a blunt angle beyond the dorsal plate. 



Under refuse, &c., on the sea-shore usually below high -water mark ; rare, but some- 

 times occurs in numbers ; Kingsgate ; Weymouth ; Hastings ; Isle of Wight ; South- 

 sea; Whitsaud Bay, near Plymouth; Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire (in abundance under 

 dry dung on the lieach) ; Liverpool, Crosby (abundant); South port; Hartlepnul ; 

 Northumberland district (beneath tufts of sea-rocket (Bold)); Scotland, rare, under 

 sea-weed in sandy places, Forth and Clyde districts. 



P. nigriventris is said to differ from P, halticus in having the 

 fourtli, fifth, and sixth segments of hind body (instead of only the fourth 

 and fifth) black, the hind body as a whole being enlarged behind, and 

 very finely and obsoletely punctured: I have, however, specimens from 

 ^lablethorpe, Lincolnshire, in which the hind body is much widened 

 behind, and the punctuation is very distinct ; the colour of the segments 

 of hind body appears to be very variable even in specimens from the 

 same locality, and, moreover, different writers seem to give different 

 accounts of the distinctions between the two species (cf. Fauvel, Ann. 

 Fr. 1862, p. 86, and Mulsantand Key, Brevipennes, 1871, p. 304-307): 

 it seems, therefore, very probable that the species are really identical. 



In strict accordance with the tarsal system the genus Myllasna ought to 

 be inserted here, but it is placed as being anomalous with Gijmnusa and 

 Deinojjsis at the end of the AleocharincB. 



OLIGOTINA. 



This tribe contains three British genera, which are distinguished by 

 liaving all the tarsi four-jointed ; they differ from each other in several 

 important particulars, and can only be grouped together by the character 

 of the tarsal joints ; the genus Oligota contains a number of very minute 

 species, which are among the smallest known Staphylinidse ; Ilygronoma 



