Staphylinida of the Amazon Valley. 81 



obscure rusty colour. The sinuation at the extremity of 

 the elytra is extremely deep. 



Tapajos ; a single female individual. 



Ohs. — Though very closely allied to the D. Mattheivsi, 

 I believe the elongate antennse indicate this to be a dis- 

 tinct species ; it is also a little larger, its head being 

 notably broader. 



COPROPOEUS. 



Under this generic name I have described sixteen new 

 species ; all these Avould, in Erichson's classification, find 

 their position in Tachinus, Family I. Kraatz and others 

 have proposed more than one other generic name for 

 insects that would by Erichson have been located as 

 above mentioned ; but these names I have not adopted, 

 because I feel extremely doubtfiil as to what amount of 

 generic differentiation will be found to exist among these 

 insects ; for it is evident that a vast number of closely- 

 allied species exist in the warmer parts of the world, and 

 that only an insignificant fi-action of their number are as 

 yet known to us ; and I consider it is therefore premature 

 to attempt to predict where the limits of aggregation of 

 the species will ultimately be found. It is sufficient for 

 my present purposes to state that all the Tachyporini 

 here described as Coproporus are comparatively little 

 elongate in form, have the anterior half of the body very 

 shining and glabrous, the mesosternum carinate, and the 

 front tarsi in the male scarcely dilated (this latter character 

 being of course only inferred in the case of those species 

 of which the female alone is kno\vn to me). Tachyporini 

 possessing these characters appear to be very numerous in 

 species in the warm parts of the world, and South America 

 appears to be specially rich in them, so that their study 

 will not be without difficulty, leaving out of consideration 

 generic questions. In all the cases in which I have ob- 

 served the asdeagus, it is but small, without appendages, 

 and diffisrs but slightly from species to species ; on the other 

 hand, the external sexual characters of the apical segments 

 of the hind body offer remarkable and striking distinctions, 

 so that their examination much facilitates the recognition 

 of the species. 



1. Coproporus rotundatvs, n. sp. Convexus, piceus, 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1876.— PART I. (MAY.) G 



