340 STAPHYLiNiDJE. [Stemis. 



Male with the seventh ventral segmejit of hind body slightly but 

 widely emarginate, the sixth segment slightly sinuate and depressed. 



Marshy place?, especially in fen districts; very local; Norfolk and Cambridge 

 Fens (Horning, Wicken, &c.) ; also recorded from Soutliend, Devonshire, and Liver- 

 pool, and as common near Dublin ; it is possible, however, that some of these records 

 may be erroneous ; it has not occurred in Scotland. 



S. pusillus, Er. A very small species, rather broad proportionally, 

 somewhat depressed, black, front parts rather dull, hind body more 

 shining ; head rather broad, with two grooves meeting in a point in 

 front, the space between elevated and rather shining ; antennae short 

 and stout, black, palpi black with first joint testaceous ; thorax about as 

 long as broad, or even slightly transverse, with the sides strongly rounded, 

 rather strongly and thickly punctured, with two evident lateral de- 

 pressions behind the middle, united by an obsolete transverse depression 

 near the base ; elytra distinctly longer than thorax, rather depressed, 

 strongly punctured, disc uneven ; hind body short, rather suddenly 

 narrowed at apex, shining, finelj' punctured, with one short longitudinal 

 keel at base of the two or three front segments ; legs black or nearly 

 black. L. 2-2|- mm. 



Male with the seventh ventral segment of hind body slightly and 

 somewhat angularly emarginate at apex. 



Marshy places, at roots of grass, &c.; widely distributed and rather coniinon 

 throughout England ; rarer further north ; Scotland, not common, Solway, Tweed, 

 Forth, Tay, and Dee districts ; Ireland, near Waterford. 



S. exig"uus, Er. Very closely allied to the preceding, from which 

 it may be distinguished by its somewhat narrower form, more glossy, 

 less closely punctured, and less depressed thorax, which has the sides less 

 rounded and the depressions near base less evident ; the elytra are dis- 

 tinctly shorter, being scarcely longer than the thorax, and are rather 

 strongly and not quite so closely punctured, and their disc is less uneven ; 

 Rey suggests that it may be a brachypterous form of the preceding ; 

 it is possible that this may be the case if we consider the great difference 

 in the length of the elytra in certain species of Lathrohium, but if it 

 were so we should expect to find brachypterous forms of more species of 

 Sle7ms. L. 2-2|- mm. 



Damp places; in moss, &c. ; Holm Bush, near Brighton; Tonbridge; Hastings; 

 Knowle ; Bewdley ; Repton ; Lincolnshire ; Scotland, rare, Tay and Solway districts ; 

 Ireland, Cork. 



S. fuscipes, Grav. {femorellus, Zett.). Black, rather shining ; head 

 as broad as elytra with furrows obsolete, and the interval between them 

 only slightly raised ; antennae moderately long, pitchy, with dark club, 

 palpi dark with first joint testaceous ; thorax longer than broad, with 

 surface even, strongly and rather thickly punctured ; elytra about as long 

 as thorax, somewhat convex, rather coarsely and not very closely punc- 

 tured, without depressions ; hind body very finely margined, finely and 



