232 STAPHTLINID^. [QucdlUS. 



Male with the seventh ventral segment of himl body strongly and 

 angulaily sinuate in the middle of apical margin, with a broad smooth 

 longitudinal impression before sinuation, sixth slightly sinuate. 



In dccnying fungi, dead leaves, old f;iggots, &c. ; local, but not unconiiTion ; 

 liOiulon district, generally distributed ; Dean Forest ; Slierwood I'orest ; Scarborough ; 

 Northumberland district, ratlier rare ; Scotland, widely distributed, in moss and 

 decaying fungi ; Sohvay, Tweed, Forth, Clyde, Tay, and Moray districts. 



Q. mesomelinus, Marsh (rarinhilis, var., Gyll., nitidus, ^'ar.,Grav., 

 tcmiioralis, Thorns.). Entirely l)lack or pitch-black, shining ; head 

 more or less ovate narrower than thorax, antennte moderate, reddish 

 brown with the basal joints darker, penultimate joints slightly trans- 

 verse if viewed frnm sides ; thorax narrowed in front, entirely rounded 

 behind, slightly broader than elytra, with the usual dorsal series of three 

 punctures, but Avithout exira punctures on sides of disc ; elytra longer 

 than thorax, obsoletely furroAved behind near suture, rather strongly and 

 moderately thickly punctured ; hind body feebly narrowed behind, more 

 finely punctured than elytra, more or less iridescent ; legs pitchy, or 

 brownish red, Avith the tarsi and usually the knees lighter. L. 8- 

 10 mm. 



Male Avith the seventh ventral segment of hind body feebly, and the 

 sixth scarcely visibly sinuate, Avith a small smooth space before the 

 sinuations. 



In rubbish -heaps, haystack refuse, uioss, fungi, decaying trees, &c. ; sometimes in 

 cellars ; common and generally distributed throughout the kingdom. 



V. fageti, Thorns. (Microsmiriis fageti, Thorns.). This variety is, as 

 a rule, of a rather deeper black colour than the type, and is decidedly 

 smaller; the punctuation of the elytra is a little more sparing, l)ut 

 deeper, and the furroAA's near suture are deeper and reach nearly to apex ; 

 the smooth sj^aces, also, before the sinuations at the apex of the sixth 

 and-seventh segments of the hind body in male are larger ; the diiferences, 

 hoAA'ever, seem hardly sufficient to alloAV of its being considered a distinct 

 species. L. 6|-8 mm. 



Under bark of decaying trees; not so common as the type, but Apparently widely 

 distributed in England and Scotland, and probably throughout the kingdom. 



Q. fulg-idus, F. (hicolor, Redt., quadrijnindatus, Thorns.). Shining 

 black Avith the elytra red, antenna3 and legs brownish red or |)itchy, 

 apex of hind body and apical margin of segments more or less distinctly 

 reddish, tarsi lighter than tibiae but as a rule not markedly so with tlie 

 exception of the last joint ; the penultimate joints of the antennae are 

 only moderately transverse ; in general structure and sculpture the 

 species much resembles Q. mesomelinus ; the thorax, however, has three 

 or four punctures on the sides of disc arranged in a semicircular series ; 

 the elytra are said to be not hmger than the thorax, and the basal joint 

 of the posterior tarsi to be almost as long as the apical joint, but neither 



