Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Coleoptera of St. Helena. 409 



Mr. Melliss from larvae which he took from grape-vines at 

 an elevation of about 2000 feet above the sea ; and he tells 

 me that the larvae are occasionally very abundant, under 

 similar circumstances, in various parts of the island. It is a 

 species which occurs at the Gape of Good Hope, and which 

 was recorded by Erichson from Angola ; and it is not impro- 

 bable, therefore, that it may have been introduced into St. 

 Helena from perhaps the former of those localities. 



Fam. Staphylinidae. 



(Subfam. Aleocharides.) 



Genus Homalota. 



Mannerheim, Brachel. 73 (1831). 



Homalota coriaria *. 



Homalota coriaria^ Kr., Nat. der Ids. Deutsch. ii. 282 (1856). 



, WolL, Col. Atl. 469 (1865). 



, Id., Col. Hesp. 223 (1867). 



There are several examples of the undoubted European H. 

 coriaria amongst the St.-Helena Coleoptera of Mr. Melliss ; 

 and, geographically, it is a very interesting addition to the 

 fauna, seeing that there is scarcely any member of the 8ta- 

 jphylinidce which has acquired for itself so wide a range 

 throughout the various sub- African Atlantic groups. In the 

 Madeiran and Canarian archipelagos it literally swarms ; and 

 we met with it, though more sparingly, in each of the Cape- 

 Verde Islands (six in number) which we had an opportunity 

 of investigating. 



(Subfam. Staphylinides.) 



Genus Philonthus. 



Stephens, 111. Brit. Ent. v. 226 (1832). 



Philonthus longicornis* . 



Philonthus longicornis (Kby), Steph., loc. cit. 237 (1832). 



scyhalarius et fuscicornis, Nordm., Symb. 94, 96 (1838). 



, WoU., Col. Atl. 492 (1865). 



, Id., Col. Hesp. 237 (1867). 



Two examples of this common European Philonthus have 

 been taken by Mr. Melliss " in flower gardens," at St. Helena, 

 at an elevation of about 2000 feet ; and, like the Homalota 

 coriaria^ they are of considerable interest geographically on 

 account of the wide range which the species has acquired 

 throughout the various Atlantic groups. It is recorded from 

 the Azores by Mr. Crotch ; and it has been captured abun- 

 dantly by myself and others in the Madeiran, Canarian, and 

 Cape- Verde archipelagos ; and it was met with by the late 

 Mr. Bewicke even at Ascension. 



