PtinidtB."] SEBRICOIWIA. 181 



P. for, L. Of a lighter or darker fuscous-brown colour, with pale 

 pubescence ; thorax subcylindrical, with a distinct central furrow, which 

 is furnished on each side with a longitudinal patch of yellowish-grey 

 hairs, which are abbreviated in front, and join or nearly join behind ; 

 these patches are often rubbed, except in fresh specimens, as also, in 

 fact, is the pubescence of the elytra, which is sometimes very indistinct; 

 the scutellum is clothed with whitish pubescence, and there are two 

 bands or patches of the same on the elytra; the elytra are punctured 

 in regular rows, and bear rows of short setae. L. 2-4 mm. 



Male with the antenna very long, and the third joint twice as long as 

 the second, and the eyes large and convex ; the elytra are oblong and 

 parallel-sided, with the shoulders marked, and the rows of punctures are 

 rather strong, the interstices being narrow ; the legs are very long and 

 slender, and the apex of the femora is elongate-clavate. 



Female with the antennae much shorter, and the eyes smaller; the 

 elytra are ovate, subglobose, and are more finely punctured, with much 

 broader interstices ; the legs also are shorter and stouter, with the apex 

 of the femora scarcely clavate. 



In old wood ; often found in old houses and museums; occasionally it occurs in 

 birds' nests, nnd in various kinds of decaying animal nnd vegetable refuse; common 

 and generally distributed throughout the greater part of the kingdom. 



P. BubpilosuB, Mull. This species appears closely to resemble 

 P. fur, but it is smaller and narrower, and, as a rule, more lightly 

 coloured; it may be known by the much longer setae and coarser punc- 

 tuation of the elytra, and the absence of the white tuft of hairs that 

 fringes the base of the longitudinal central furrow of thorax ; the latter 

 distinction, however, is not very obvious; the sexual differences seem to 

 be much the same as in P. fur, L. 2-2^ mm. 



In rotten wood, sometimes in company with ants ; rare ; Chatham ( J. J. Walker) ; 

 Tilgnte Forest, in ants' nests (Brewer) ; Boundstone (Power) ; Cobham Park, 

 Surrey; Bepton (W. Garneys). 



The three following species have been taken in Britain, but can 

 hardly be accepted as indigenous without further confirmation : 



(P. pilosus, Mull. Very closely allied to P. subpilosus, and difficult 

 to distinguish from that species ; it is, however, a little larger, and may 

 be distinguished by its broader and somewhat more granulosely sculp- 

 tured thorax and stouter antennae, of which the first joints are propor- 

 tionally shorter; the elytra in the female are rather longer and less 

 globose, with the punctures in the striae smaller and more closely set, 

 and the third joint of the tarsi is somewhat longer. L. 2|-3 mm. 



In old wood ; Horsell and Enfield (Power) ; it is also said to have been taken at 

 Chatham and Tilgate, but it has in some instances been apparently confused with 

 I', subpilosui ; it is generally distributed and not rare in Germany, especially in old 



kw. 



(P. brunneus, _Diifl. (tcstaceiis, Boield. ; hirfettus, Sturm). Of a tcs- 



