290 STAPHYLiNiD^. \_Xantholinns. 



Tn nostf? of Formica rufa ; local ; Plurastead, Chatham, Esher ; Guestling, near 

 Hastings j Kidderminster ; Bewdley Forest ; Buddon Wood, Leicestershire ; Liver- 

 pool. 



X. g-laber, ISTord. Shining black, with the elytra red or reddish- 

 testaceous ; head suboval or slightly sub(|uadrate, lunger and narrower in 

 female than in male, almost smooth, except for thensual frontal furrows- 

 antennse short, pitchy red, with the first joint darker, and the last usually 

 testaceous, joints 4-10 strongly transverse ; thorax oblong, hardly nar- 

 rowed behind, with two dorsal series consisting of eight or nine punctures, 

 and two lateral series consisting of seven or eight somewhat finer punc- 

 tures ; elytra scarcely longer than thorax, with three somewhat irregular 

 series of shallow punctures; hind body finely and sparingly punctured ; 

 legs reddish with the coxae, and sometimes the posterior femora, darker. 

 L. 6 mm. 



In the damp wood mould beneath the bark of treef, often in company with ants ; 

 rare ; Westerham, Kent ; Richmond Park, Surrey (Champion) ; Grantchester, near 

 Cambridge (Power). 



X. tricolor, F. A rather large and conspicuous species which 

 cannot well be confounded with any other ; head shining black, thorax 

 and elytra bright testaceous red, hind body pitch-black with the apex of 

 hinder segments usually reddish ; head oblong, slightly narrowed in 

 front, diffusely punctured, antennaa short, reddish, with apical joint 

 ■usually lighter, joints 4-10 strongly transverse ; thorax oblong plainly 

 narrowed behind, Avith two dorsal series composed of twelve to fourteen 

 punctures, and two confused lateral series ; elytra almost square, dis- 

 tinctly shorter than thorax, rather strongly punctured ; hind body finely 

 punctured ; legs reddish testaceous. L. 9-lOi ^n^, 



Male with seventh segment of hind body subtruncate at apex, segment 

 of armature projecting, subsinuate and ciliate at apex, female with seg- 

 ment of armature apparently furnished with a ^mall extra segment at 

 apex. 



In vegetable refuse, decaying sea-weed, &c. ; it occurs both inland and on the 

 coast; i.ondon district, not uncommon; Deal; Folkestone; Hastings; Portland 

 Island; Isle of Wight; Devonshire; Scilly Islands; Wicken Fen; Hunstanton; 

 Weston-super-Mare; Tewkesbury; Gloucester; Liverpool; Northumberland district ; 

 Scotland, Highlan'^'s, rare; Tay and Dee districts; it appears to be much commoner 

 in the south than further north. 



X. distans, Kr. Allied to X. tricolor but smaller, with the colour 

 of the head and hind body more pitchy, and of the thorax usually 

 darker ; the head is less oblong, and the punctures of the dorsal series of 

 thorax are finer and do not exceed ten or twelve ; the thorax also is 

 sliorter in proportion ; the species very closely resembles light specimens 

 of X. linearis, with which it appears to be often confounded ; it appears 

 only to differ structurally from that species in having a smaller number 

 of i)nncturos in the dorsal series of thorax (in which, however, it agrees 

 with X. lomjioentris which is often considered a variety of X. linearia), 



