STAPHYLINID^E. 467 



1285. Homalota sethiops. 



Oxypoda aethiops, WolL, Cat. Can. Col. 551 (1864). 

 Habitat Canarienses (Palma), in intermediis semel reperta. 



A single example of this intensely black little species, which was 

 taken by myself in Palma of the Canarian Group, is all that I have 

 yet seen. Its posteriorly subattenuated outline gives it much the 

 appearance at first sight of an Oxypoda, and consequently in my late 

 Catalogue I did not hesitate to refer it to that genus. Nevertheless 

 a recent examination of its hind feet, in which the basal joint is not 

 at all longer than the second one, proves it to be in reality a Homa- 

 lota ; and I have therefore treated it as such. 



The H. cethiops is about the size of (or perhaps a trifle larger than) 

 the H. nigra ; but it is of a still deeper black, more shining and 

 convex, less pubescent, much more coarsely and less closely punc- 

 tured, with its antennae and elytra somewhat shorter, its prothorax 

 perceptibly broader, and its abdomen more attenuated towards the 

 apex. 



1286. Homalota aleocharoides. 

 Homalota aleocharoides, Wall., Cat. Can. Col. 542 (1864). 



Habitat Canarienses (Ten.), a W. D. Crotch sat copiose lecta. 



A small and distinct, but somewhat insignificant, Homalota which 

 was taken rather abundantly in Teneriffe by Dr. Crotch, during his 

 first expedition to the Canaries (in 1862) ; but his specimens are the 

 only ones which I have yet seen. 



1287. Homalota atramentaria. 



Aleochara atramentaria (Kby), Gyll., Ins. Suec. ii. 408 (1810). 

 Homalota atramentaria, Erich., Gen. et Spec. Staph. Ill (1839). 



, WolL, Ins. Mad. 555 (1854). 

 , Id., Cat. Mad. Col. 178 (1857). 



- Id,, Cat. Can. Col. 543 (1864). 



Habitat Maderenses (Mad., P to S to ) et Canarienses (ins. omnes), in 

 stercore bovino et equino vulgaris. 



The European H. atramentaria is very widely spread over these 

 Atlantic Groups, where we may be pretty sure that it is nearly uni- 

 versal. It occurs in the dung of cattle at most elevations, though 

 principally at intermediate ones. It is common in Madeira proper 

 and Porto Santo, and it has been captured in the whole seven islands 

 of the Canarian archipelago. 



2 H 2 



