260 STAPHYLINID*. [PlulontTtus. 



II. Head and tliorax greenish bronze ; anterior tibise 

 straight or almost straight. 

 i. Head somewhat quadrate, transverse, at least as broad 



as the thorax in male ; elytra less thickly punctured P. IJfTEEMEDItrs, JBoisd, 

 ii. Head somewhat ovate, less broad in both sexes than 



the thorax ; elytra more thickly punctured ... P. LAMINATUS, Creutz. 



P. splendens, F. Shining black, somewhat depressed, sparin.g^ly 

 pubescent, with the elytra brassy with a more or less distinct greenish 

 reflection ; head and thorax shining black-bn )nze, the former snbquadrate, 

 transverse, large, as broad as thorax in female, broader in male ; antennse 

 black, moderately long, with penultimate joints tKinsverse ; thorax with- 

 out dorsal punctures ; scutellum large, rather thickly punctured ; elytra 

 about as long as thorax, rather strongly and asperately punctured ; hind 

 body rather finely and closely punctured throughout ; legs black, tarsi 

 pitchy, anterior tibiae somewhat curved. L. 12-14 mm. 



Male with head distinctly broader than thorax, and seventh ventral 

 segment of hind body very deeply and sharply excised, the sixth being 

 also much less deeply, but distinctly emarginate ; the anterior tarsi are 

 feebly dilated in the male, very slightly in female. 



In dung ; generally distributed in England and Wales, but not, as a rule, abundant ; 

 more local further north ; Scotland, Solway district only ; Ireland, near Belfast, 

 Dublin, and Waterford. 



P. intermedius, Boisd. This species, as its name implies, is inter- 

 mediate between P. si^lendens and P. laminatus; its head is shaped as in 

 the former, but is rather smaller, and in colour it resembles the latter, 

 except that the elytra are less distinctly green ; the punctuation, moreover, 

 of the elytra is finer than in P. spJendens, but distinctly less fine and 

 dense than in P. laminatus ; the hind body is rather finely but not thickly 

 punctured ; legs black, anterior tibiae straight. L. 9|-10| mm. 



Male with seventh ventral segment deeply sinuate or emarginate on 

 apical margin, fifth segment prolonged in a broad plate which almost 

 covers the sixth segment ; anterior tarsi rather strongly dilated in male, 

 moderately in female. 



In dung, moss, &c. ; local ; London district, rather common, Chatham, Sheerness, 

 Greenwich, Walton, Forest Hill, &c. ; Hastings; Bewdiey Forest; Repton ; York; 

 Liverpool; Manchester; Northumberland and I)urham districts, very rare ; Hartlepool 

 (Hardy); Scotland, rare, Forth district only; Ireland, near Waterford (Power). 



P. laminatus, Creutz, Shining black with the head and thorax 

 greenish bronze, and the elytra green, sometimes with a slightly bluish 

 tint ; it may be distinguished at once from the two preceding species by 

 the much closer punctuation of the elytra ; the head in both sexes is 

 Bomewhat ovate and distinctly narrower than the thorax, and the latter 

 is distinctly narrowed in front, which is not the case in either of the two 

 preceding ; the antennae are a little longer and more slender than in P. 

 intermedius, and have the penultimate joints a little less transverse, and 

 the anterior tarsi are less dilated ; the sexual characters do not differ 

 materially from those of the last-mentioned species. L. 8|-9^ mm. 



la dung, &c. ; common and generally distributed throughout the kingdom. 



