Pselaphina.'] CLAVICORNIA. 87 



i. Maxillary pulpi with the last joint very long, club-shaped PSELAPHUS, Herbst. 

 ii. Maxillary palpi with the last joint securiform, usually 

 broad. 



1. Antennae with the first joint moderate, very closely ap- 

 proximate at base ; abdomen with the first visible 



dorsal segment longer than the following TrCHUS, Leach. 



2. Antennae subgeniculate with the first joint large, less 

 approximate at base ; abdomen with the first dorsal 



segments subequal BYTHINUS, Leach. 



II. Antennas distant, inserted at the sides of the head; maxil- 

 lary palpi not conspicuously large. 



i. Tarsi with two unequal claws BATEISUS, Aube. 



ii. Tarsi with a single claw. 



1. Thorax with three fovese at base united by a transverse 

 furrow, elytra of male produced in a short and broad 



lobe at apex RYBAXIS, Saulcy. 



2. Thorax with three foveae at base, not united by a 



furrow ; elytra of male simple at apex BEYAXIS, Leach. 



PSELAPHUS, Herbst. 



The genus Pselaphus contains, according to the Munich catalogue, 

 twenty-one species, but nearly that number of new European species 

 alone has since been described ; representatives occur in North and South 

 America, India and Australia, so that the genus is evidently very widely 

 distributed ; its limits, however, are very imperfectly known ; the species 

 occur in moss, vegetable refuse, &c., and are among the most elegant of 

 the minuter Coleoptera ; they may be distinguished, as a rule, by their 

 large and somewhat triangular abdomen, which is much narrowed in 

 front, long and more or less cylindrical neck, and the very long maxillary 

 palpi ; they are found in moss, vegetable refuse, &c. 



I. Thorax narrow, much longer than broad, without 



impression at base .P. HEISEI, Herbst. 



II. Thorax broader, only a little longer than broad, with 



an impression at base P. DBESDENSIS, Herlst. 



P. Heisei, Herbst. (Herbsti, Eeichb.). Bright chestnut or reddish- 

 brown with the apex of the elytra sometimes darker ; head long, eyes 

 large, forehead strongly furrowed, with two large yellowish tubercles 

 between eyes ; antennas long, rather strongly thickened towards apex, 

 second joint twice as long as third ; thorax long, ovate cylindrical, without 

 furrow at base ; elytra narrow in front, strongly widened behind, with 

 long and thick tomentose pubescence at apex ; abdomen with the first 

 visible dorsal segment longer than the following taken together, strongly 

 margined ; legs red, tarsi usually lighter, elongate, with the tibiaa con- 

 stricted at base. L. If -2 mm. 



In moss, haystack refuse, &c. ; generally distributed throughout the greater part 

 of England, as far north as Yorkshire ; rare in the northern counties ; Scotland, rare, 

 Lowlands, among sphagnum, Forth and Solway districts ; Ireland, Dublin, Portishead, 

 Armagh and Galway, and probably generally distributed. 



