THE STAPHYLINI. 65 



the antennae are long in proportion to the size of the 

 insect. 



The general colour of this species is glossy-red 

 and shining. The head, breast, scutellum, and tip of 

 the abdomen are black, and the elytra are blue-black 

 with a cream-white curved mark on the shoulder, and 

 a line of the same colour upon the posterior margin. 

 The antennae are rather curiously coloured, the four 

 first joints being black, the next five pale-red, and the 

 last black, like those of the base. 



It is a very common insect, and may be found in 

 fungi in the autumn. Indeed, in consequence of 

 their fungus-loving habits, all these Beetles are to be 

 found towards the close of the year. None of the 

 Tachyporidae are large, and though most of them 

 frequent fungi, many are found under leaf-heaps, in 

 bones, and similar localities. 



THE family of the Staphylinidae, which comes 

 next in order, contains the largest species of this 

 group of Beetles, some of them reaching, or even 

 slightly exceeding, an inch in length. They may be 

 known by several peculiarities of structure. The 

 antennae are set far apart, their junction with the 

 head being in front, within the base of the mandibles, 

 which are large and formidable. The maxillary palpi 

 are slender, and the ligula small. The spiracles of 

 the prothorax are large. The tarsi of the front feet 

 are dilated in the males and slender in the females. 

 The jaws, too, are not so powerful in the female, 

 neither are their heads so large as is the case with 

 the other sex. 



F 



