180 Dr. Sharp's Bevision of the 



Group XII. The sixth segment of the abdomen not punc- 

 tured; antennce stout or very stout. (Species 74 — 78). 



The very small species forming this group are found 

 amongst moss and leaves, with the exception of H. paral- 

 lela, which is quite confined to the nests of Formica rufa; 

 this species has thinner antennae than the otherSj and a 

 difi'erent facies. 



74. Homalota exilis. 



Parallela, fusca, antennis pedibus anoque testaceis, 

 obsolete punctata, tenuissime pubescens ; antennis eras- 

 sis ; thorace leviter transverse ; elytris hoc paulo longior- 

 ibus; abdomine confertim obsoletissime (apicem versus 

 vix visibiliter) punctate. Long. ^ lin. 



H. exilis, Er. Kilf. Brand, i. 333; Gen. et Spec. Staph. 

 115; Kr. Ins. Deutsch. ii. 260; Wat. Cat.; Aleuonota 

 exilis, Th. Sk. Col. iii. 54. 



Var. — Minor, angustior, colore obscuriore, antennis 

 paulo brevioribus. 



A remarkable little species, of a pale colour, with short 

 thick antennas, and extremely fine, scarcely visible punc- 

 tuation and pubescence. Antennae testaceous, not quite 

 so long as the head and thorax, stout, thickened towards 

 the apex ; third joint triangular, not nearly so long as the 

 second, fourth joint small, broader than long, from this 

 to the tenth the antennee are considerably thickened, 

 with each joint very transverse ; the penultimate joint 

 more than twice as broad as long ; eleventh joint broad, 

 double the length of the tenth. Head large, scarcely 

 narrower than the thorax, a little widened behind the 

 eyes, which are small and not at all prominent ; very ob- 

 soletely punctured, and sometimes with an indistinct long- 

 itudinal channel. The thorax is about as wide as the 

 elytra, about one-third broader than long, the sides nearly 

 straight, a little narrowed behind, very finely punctured 

 and pubescent. The elytra are a little longer than the 

 thorax, and rather more distinctly (yet extremely finely) 

 punctured. The abdomen is yellow at the extremity, the 

 middle segments are pitchy, the basal segments sometimes 

 pitchy, sometimes yellow; its punctuation is pretty dense, 

 but extremely fine, and is, towards the apex, scarcely 

 visible. The legs are yellow. 



