Ou-yponiS.'] STAPHYLINID.K 361 



transverse, longer than either meso- or meta-thorax, all three segments with distinct 

 muscular impressions ; the scuta of all the segments are nearly complete; the ninth 

 segment is very small, and bears two very short cerciand a cylindrical anal appendage 

 of about the same length as these latter ; legs short ; the colour is pale yellow, but 

 the head and dorsal scuta are pale ferruginous, so that the upper surface appears almost 

 entirely reddish ; the larva is found, like the perfect insect, in agarics. 



O. rufus, L. Oblong, rather broad, smooth and shining, with the 

 head and apical segments of hind body deep black, the thorax and the 

 remainder of the hind body bright red, and the elytra black with a broad 

 testaceous red patch on each at shoulders, which almost meet in a point 

 at apex, but are divided by the scutellum, which is black ; head trans- 

 verse, rectangular, forehead impressed on each side ; antennae very short, 

 strongly thickened and compressed towards apex, reddish testaceous with 

 the apex often a little darker, joints 6-10 strongly transverse ; thorax 

 short, transverse, much broader than long, smooth or almost smooth ; 

 elytra transverse, a little longer than thorax, shoulders very strongly 

 marked, with more or less irregular roAVS of very large pmictures on disc ; 

 hind body short, somewhat rounded at sides and strongly narrowed at 

 apex, very finely and sparingly punctured ; legs reddish testaceous, with 

 the coxK, trochanters, and base of femora black. Length very variable : 

 I have specimens ranging from 5|-10 mm. 



Male with the seventh ventral segment of hind body broadly and some- 

 what angularly emarginate at apex ; head a little broader than thorax ; 

 female with the seventh ventral segment rounded at apex ; head about 

 as broad as thorax. 



In decaying fungi, eating passages through the gills ; local, but not uncommon, and 

 rather widely distributed ; Sevenoaks, Chatham, West Wickham, Chobham, Coombe 

 Wood, Westerham ; Suflblk ; Norfolk ; Pegwell Bay ; Hastings ; Winchester ; Devon- 

 shire ; Swansea ; Llangollen ; North Wales generally ; Kidderminster and Stourport, 

 Worcestershire; Repton ; Scarborough; Cheshire; Manchester district ; not recorded 

 from the extreme north of England, Scotland, or Ireland. 



OXYTELINiE. 



This sub-family contains, as at present constituted, between twenty 

 and thirty genera, which are generally distributed ; they have the head 

 large, and the antennae eleven-jointed, usually, although not always, short 

 and thickened towards apex ; the anterior coxae are large, conical, and 

 prominent, and the posterior are transverse ; the legs are short, and the 

 tibiae, at least the anterior and intermediate pairs, are more or less spinose 

 externally ; in the chief genera, such as Bledius and Oxyielus, the tarsi 

 are three-jointed, but in Acrognathus and Coiproyldlus and one or two 

 others they are five-jointed. 



I. All the tarsi 3-jointed. 



i. Anterior, and sometimes intermediate, tibias formed 

 for digging, more or less spinose externally. 

 1. Intermediate coxa) more or less distant ; anterior 

 tibia; with cue row of spines. 



