SHORT-WINGED SCAVENGER-BEETLES. 69 



A. Antenpas inserted -wide apart, at the extremities of the eijistoma. 

 B. Palpi not enlarged at tip. 

 C. Size large, from half an inch to an inch or more in length. Surface pubescent, (except 

 ocypus ) 

 D. Head of males large, wider than thorax ; middle coxw wide apart. 



E. Antennae sub-clavate ; abdomen as wide as elytra CREOrHYLUS. 



E E. Antennae filiform; abdomen narrower than elytra Leistotroi'HUS. 



D D. Head of males not enlarged ; middle coxa; approximate. 



F. Eorm slightly tapering ; brown or dull black STArilYUNUS. 



E E. Form elongate, jjarallel ; shining black Oc Yi'us. 



C C. Size small, usually less tha:) half an inch in length ; shining black, sometimes tinted with 



red Philontiius. 



B B. Labial palpi terminated with a large semilunar joint ; head of males enlarged ; middle coxae 



very wide apart. Size below medium ; glabrous OxYrouus. 



A A. Antennae approximate, inserted on the middle of the epistoma ; head oblong, sub-quadrate. 

 Length usually a quarter of an inch or less, elytra often reddish Xantholinus. 



Crcophilus, Stepliens, contaius two IST. A. species, one of which, the 

 C. villosus, Grav., is not uncommon. It is a robust species, about seven- 

 tenths of an inch long, bhxck, with a broad ash-colored band across the 

 elytra, and anoLher across the abdomen, composed of short hairs. The 

 specific name villosus — hairy, is expressive of this character. The gen- 

 eric name means a lover of Jiesh. Leisfotrophus, Perty, a name expres- 

 sive of the ferocious character of the species, contains but one N. A. 

 species, L. cingulatus, Grav. It is of about the same size as the prece- 

 ding, of a grayish-brown color, indistinctly spotted with black. The 

 end of the abdomen has a golden luster. Twenty-one species of Staphij- 

 linus proper are enumerated in Dr. LeConte's catalogue of 1803. One 

 of the largest and most common species is the S. maculosus, Grav., eight 

 or nine-tenths of an inch long, of a dark cinnamon-brown color, with a 

 black scutellum, and a row of obscure square blackish spots along the 

 middle of the abdomen. A somewhat similar but rarer and more ele- 

 gant species is the S. vuJjnnus or fox-colored Staphylinus of Nordman. 

 In this the colors are brighter, and the abdomen is black, tipped with 

 fulvous, with golden incissions, and two cinereous pubescent spots at 

 the base of each segment. The >S'. cinnamopterus, Gl-av., is also cinna- 

 mon-colored, with the abdomen nearly black ; but it is a smaller species, 

 being but half an inch, or a little more, in length. 8. tomentostis, Grav., 

 is six-tenths of an inch long, and of a deep, dull black color. S. viola- 

 ceous is of about the same size, also black, but with the thorax and 

 elytra of a rich violet hue. The abdomen is varied along the margin 

 with a silken ash-colored pubescence. 



Ocypus, Kirby, meaning sivift-footed, contains but one species, the 

 0. ater, Erichs., seven-tenths of an inch long. PMlonthiis, Curtis, mean- 

 ing a lover of dung, contains many species, a few of which exceed half 

 an inch in length ; but most of them range from two to three-tenths of 

 an inch. A considerable number of our species are arranged under the 

 genus Quedius, of Stephens, which is closely allied to Philonthus, but 

 differs in having the thorax with a sharp simple margin, and a fe 



