120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VOL. 97 
nearly as wide as the submentum; surface above and below with dense 
(tuberculous) sculpture and scattered umbilicate punctures. Prono- 
tum one-fourth wider than long, semioctagonal ; midline finely but very 
distinctly impressed ; lateral margin marked by a suture or ridge only 
near the front angles; with large umbilicate punctures generally sep- 
arated by one to two times their diameter; with strong and dense scaly 
ground sculpture. EHlytra feebly dehiscent, the apex broadly rounded 
except internally; with punctures as on pronotum but a little denser 
and much less definite, without definite ground sculpture but surface 
very uneven. Length, 6 to 9 mm. 
Type locality —‘America septentrionali (?).” Of brevidens, “New 
York.” 
Types.—EKither in the Hope Museum, Oxford, or the Zoologische 
Museum, Berlin. Of brevidens, in the Museum of Comparative Zool- 
ogy, Cambridge, Mass. (Typical examples may also be in the Horn 
collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.) 
Records.—The following are the records known to me: 
Cayman Islands: Little Cayman (Lewis and Thompson, in Jamaica Institute, 
Oxford University, British Museum, and U. 8S. National Museum). 
North America: (HErichson, 1840), New York, Atlantic coast of Middle States 
(LeConte, 1877), Florida (Schwarz, 1878), New Jersey (Hamilton, 1884), 
Texas (Snow, 1906, as brevidens), Alabama (Ldéding, 1945), Connecticut, 
New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Utah 
(U. 8S. National Museum). 
Specimens examined.—lI have seen 127 specimens from the Cayman 
Islands, as well as about 50 from the United States. 
Remarks.—This is a very distinct species in the West Indian fauna, 
distinguishable at a glance by its size and color. In the United States 
it has two or three close relatives, from which it can be separated by 
the structure of the submentum. B. /econtei Sharp of Mexico is also 
very similar, but it differs in having a much narrower (almost circu- 
lar) submental fossa and more deeply impressed gular sutures. 
The following account of the collection of these beetles has been 
sent to me by Mr. Lewis: “On May 29, 1938, Thompson and I set up 
light-traps in three areas, one of these being on the southern side of 
a dead mangrove swamp north of South Town, the only settlement on 
the island. The traps were of a new design, using an acetylene lamp 
surrounded by four funnels, each of which was supplied with a killing 
jar. The traps were all started at about 7:30 each night. 
“On the first night, after two hours of operation, the trap at the 
edge of the swamp had been put out of action by the tremendous vol- 
ume of insects it had received. Most of them were this staphylinid. 
A quantitative method of counting the specimens was used, and it 
was found that at least 25,000 specimens of this species were taken in 
that 2-hour period. The trap was then cleared, cleaned, and reset. 
