Staphylinida: of the Amazon Valley. 229 



6. Sphceronum pallidum, n. sp. Nitldulum, testaceum, 

 capite picescente, lateribus parce sat fortiter punctate. 

 Long. Corp. 2^ lin. 



Mas: segmento 6° ventrali apice medio emarginato, 

 segmento 7° sat profunde triaugulariter exciso. 



The small size, very narroAv form, very pale colour, and 

 sparing punctuation, render this a very distinct species. 

 The antennfe are reddish, rather shorter than head and 

 thorax. The head is about as broad as the elytra, dark 

 reddish, or pitchy colour, shining, the middle and back 

 part impunctate ; the sides sparingly but not finely punc- 

 tured, the three frontal eminences very distinct. Thorax 

 yelloAvish, shining, very sparingly and finely punctured, 

 at the back part with a distinct elevation along the middle. 

 Elytra yellow, shining, sparingly and finely punctured, 

 rather shorter than the thorax. Hind body yellow, scarcely 

 shining, but indistinctly punctured. Legs pale yellow. 



In the male the 6th segment of the hind body beneath 

 is impressed along the middle, and a little emarginate at 

 the extremity of the impression; the 7th segment is 

 flattened at the base, and has a rather deep triangular 

 notch at the extremity. 



Tapajos; ten specimens. 



Lathrobium. 



The genus Lathrobium, consisting of about one hundred 

 described species, is distributed throughout the world, 

 although comparatively few species are yet known from 

 the tropics and subtropical regions. South America is 

 the part of the world in which hitherto it might have 

 been, with apparent reason, surmised that the genus is 

 represented by fewer species than elsewhere ; only two or 

 three species having been described fi-om these parts,_ and 

 but few others existing, so far as I know, in collections. 

 I am enabled here, however, to distinguish no less than 

 twenty-five Amazonian species of the genus, so that it 

 becomes evident that the want of South American species 

 in collections is not really indicative of anything more 

 than our very limited acquaintance with the tropical 

 StaphylinidcB. 



Of these twenty-five species the first, L. macrocephalum, 

 is about the largest and most peculiar species of Lathrobium 

 I am acquainted wdth, and will probably be ultimately 

 considered a distinct genus. Then follow eight species 



