250 STAPHYLiNiD^. [StaphjUnus. 



the angles rounded^ and tlie sides parallel ; in its widest sense the genus 

 comprises upwards of two hundred species, which are widely distributed 

 over the continental regions of the Old and New Worlds ; there are only- 

 two European representatives of the genus Stcqjhylinus as constituted by 

 Thomson^ both of which are British. 



I. Upper surface clothed with thick brown, somewhat varie- 



gated, pubescence; chest and under side of hind body 



covered with bright silvery white pubescence . . . . S. pubescens, De O. 



II. Upper surface of head, thorax, and elytra cyaneous ; 

 under surface of hind body dark, with thin greyish 



pubescence S, FULVIPE3, Scop. 



III. Upper surface black, elytra red; under surface of hind 

 body with yellowish pubescence at base of segments 



only. 

 i. Head trapezoidal, narrowed in front ; size smaller. 



1. Anteuuaj red, at least at base ; head and thorax black, 



not metallic S. STERCORABius, 01. 



2. Antennae entirely pitchy ; head and thorax bronzed . S. latebricola, Qrav. 

 ii. Head subquadrangular, transverse, with angles rounded. 



1. Thorax unicolorous black; seutellum covered with 



yellow pubescence S. erytheopteeus, L. 



2. Thorax black with a narrow posterior border and 

 two patches near anterior angles of yellow pubes- 

 cence ; seutellum black, except at front angles . . S. Cesaeeus, Ceder. 



S. pubescens, De G. {Trichoderma puhescens, Thorns.). Very like 

 Leistoirophus nebidosus in size and general colouring, black, with the upper 

 surface clothed with a somewhat variegated greyish-brown pubescence, 

 under surface, especially of hind body, with thick close silvery pubescence ; 

 liead bronzed, punctuation somewhat rugose, coarser on head and thorax 

 than on the elytra and hind body ; head about as broad as thorax, an- 

 tennae dark, variegated Avith testaceous, fourth joint subglobose, 6-10 

 transverse ; thorax subquadrate, somewhat narrowed behind, where it is 

 distinctly narrower than elytra ; seutellum bronze with two large velvety 

 black patches ; elytra a little longer than thorax ; hind body with a 

 more or less distinct longitudinal band of j^ellowish piibescence running 

 down the centre of upper surface ; legs dark, femora Avith a rather broad 

 testaceous ring just before apex. L. 11-13 mm. 



Male with seventh ventral segment of hind body circularly sinuate 

 in middle of apical margin with a triangular smooth space before 

 sinuation. 



In carcases, hotbeds, &c. ; local; London district, not common, Blackheath, Forest 

 Hill, Belvedere ; Hastings ; Swansea ; Sutton Park, Birmingham ; Kepton ; commoner 

 further North ; York ; Scarborough ; Liverpool, common ou Wallasey sand- 

 hills ; Manchester; Hartlepool; Northumberland district; Scotland, common. Low- 

 lands, Solway, Tweed, Forth, Clyde, Tay, and Moray districts ; Ireland, near Belfast, 

 Dublin (common), and Armagh. 



S. fulvipes, Scop. {Platijdracus fulvipes, Thoms.). A very distinct 

 species, which may at once be knoAvn by the cyaneous colour of the head, 

 thorax, and elytra, and the transverse bands of silvery-yellow pubescence 



