226 staphylixio.t:. \_^^eUeiu.■^. 



V£XiZiElIUS, Mannerheim. 



This genus, ■which is united by many authors with Quedius^ seems to 

 he abundantly distinct by reason of its short, thick, and strongly serrate 

 antennce, as -well as by its broad and robust form ; the single European 

 species is very rare, and has only occurred in Britain in the ISTew Forest; 

 it has been found on the Continent in the nests of the hornet {Vespa 

 crabro), and is said to prey upon the larvas, but it is not always attached 

 to these insects. 



V. dilatatus, F. A large, broad, somewhat depressed species, 

 shining black, with tlie elytra duller and clothed with a fine close dark- 

 grey pubescence ; head somewhat round, consideral)ly narrower than 

 thorax, antennae short and stout, dark with the last joint ferruginous, 

 third joint twice as loug as second, joints 4-10 prolonged internally and 

 serrate ; thorax subtransverse, almost semicircular, emarginate in front, 

 with the anterior angles projecting, evidently broader than elytra, 

 depressed and explanate at the sides, more or less iridescent, together with 

 head extremely finely shagreened ; scutellum punctured ; elytra about as 

 long as thorax, thickly and finely punctured, the punctuation being some- 

 Avhat rugose ; hind body gradually narrowed towards apex, rather finely 

 and thickly l)ut distinctly punctured, witli a more or less distinct iridescent 

 reflection; legs black, robust, anterior tarsi dilated. L. 16-25 mm. 



Male with the seventh ventral segment of hind body broadly and 

 feebly sinuate in the middle of apical margin, with a smooth triangular 

 ^ space before the siuuation ; head broader than in female. 



The real habitat of this rare species appears to be somewhat doubtful ; it has only 

 occurred in this country in the New Forest, where it was taken sparingly by Turner 

 in rotten wood, and, I believe, at sugar placed on trees to attract moths ; on the 

 Continent, as above mentioned, it has been taken in hornets' nests, but according to 

 Mulsant and R^ey it has also occurred in several parts of France under carcases and 

 stones; Turner also found the larva, of which there are two or three specimens in Dr. 

 Power's collection; the head is large, suborbicular, furnished with powerful jaws; 

 the protliorax is as long as the meso- and meta-thorax together: the body is gradually 

 narrowed bt-hind, and the cerci are as long as the anal appendage, and somewhat 

 longer than the last two segments united. 



In size the species varies very considerably, the largest specimens reaching 25 mm., 

 and the smallest not exceeding 14 or 15 mm. 



QUEDXUS, Leach. 



This is one of the largest genera of the Staphylitiidae, and contains at 

 present about two hundretl species, which are widely distributed over the 

 greater part of the world in both hot and cold climates ; Dr. Sharp (I.e. 

 p. 328), in describing fifteen new species from Central America, says 

 that we have as yet only three or four species from Tropical South 

 America, and that Chili possesses numerous very aberrant species. Tlie 

 luiropean and North American forms, the Australian forms, and the 

 Tropical and Central American forms appear to fall into three divisions 

 respectively as follows : — 



