Qt(edil(S.] STAPHYLINID^. 245 



Q, sem.i(vnt'us ; ]iiinl bodj' gradually and ratlicr strongly narrowed IjcLind, 

 more or less iridescent, very thickly and finely punctured and puljcsccnt, 

 the pubescence being uniform ; legs testaceous, with femora and posterior 

 tibiae usually, in part at least, darker. L. 5-6 mm. 



In moss, vegetable refuse, floorl rubhisli, &c. : a norMiern species ; rare in Entrland ; 

 Coiist;iiiline, near Preston Marsh, Laucasliiie ; Nortlminherland distiict, in woods; 

 fSeotland local and not common, although rather widely distributed ; in damp moss, 

 Lowlands and Highlands, Solway, Tweed, Forth, Clyde, Tay, and Moray districts ; 

 recorded by the late Mr. W. Garneys frona Repton, near Bnrton-on-Treiit, but it is 

 possible ho mistook for it a variety of Q. attenuatus, which is common in that locality ; 

 tho species is easily distinguished by its somewhat stout form, large head, and usually 

 red thorax. 



Q. boops, Grav. The smallest of all the British species of the 

 genus ; shining black, with the elytra often brownish ; elytra and himl. 

 body clothed with rather scanty greyish pubescence ; head very large Avith 

 eyes very large and prominent, about as broad as thorax at base ; antennre 

 entirely testaceous, scarcely thickened towards apex, with penultimate 

 joints longer than broad in male, about as long as broad in female ; thorax 

 scarcely narrowed in front ; scutellum sparingly punctured and pubescent ; 

 elytra about as long as thorax, moderately strongly and someAvhat 

 rugosely punctured, shining pitchy black or pitchy brown ; hind body 

 more or less strongly narrowed behind, scarcely iridescent, finely and 

 thickly punctured, more sparingly on centre and at apex of each segment ; 

 legs testaceous, with the posterior coxa3, and sometimes the posterior 

 femora and intermediate and posterior tibiae, darker. L. 4-4| mm. 



In haystack and other vegetable refuse, in mos?, at roots of grass in marshy' places, 

 under stones, &c. ; common and genei'ally distributed throughout the kingdom. 



QUEDZONUCSZUS, Sharp. 



This genus has been formed by Dr. Sharp (]3iologia Cent. Am. 

 Sta}»hylinidffi, \x 336) to include several Central American species, some 

 und escribed Japanese forms, and our well-known Quedius Iccvigatus ; 

 one of its chief characters lies in the strongly spined posterior femora • 

 in some of the exotic species these spines are abnormally Ion" • Dr. 

 Sharp says that " the genus is of interest by the fact that it is the 

 nearest approach made by the Quediina to the genus Pliiloidhus ; indeed 

 in the form of the head, neck, and eyes, the obliterated margin of the 

 genae, and the less developed and less inlblded side margins of the pro- 

 thorax, it approaches very closely to some of the Staphylinina. Its nearest 

 allies in the genus Quedii/s arc Q. imj^ressus and Q. capucinus. All the 

 species of Qiiedionwhus are sub-cortical in their habits ; and all of them 

 have the usual difiuse punctuation of the wing cases absent, the surface 

 being smooth (except at the lateral margins) and bearing only a few serial 

 setigerous punctures." 



Q. laevig-atus, Gyll. {laeripennis, Duf., hmgipennis, Mann.). De- 

 pressed, somewhat parallel, shining black, with the elytra more or less 



