STAPHYLINID^. 41 



what rugosely punctured ; hind body very finely and thickly punctured 

 to apex, with very fine greyish pubescence. First joint of the hind 

 tarsi as long as the three following taken together. L. 3 mm. 



In rabbit burrows and sandpits, Streatley, Berks, and Cornwall (Joy). 

 Dr Joy in introducing this species (Ent. Mo. Mag. xliv. (2 Ser. xix. ) 

 1908, 52) compares it with 0. exoleta, Er., which it appears to 

 resemble more closely than any other of the known British species. 

 It diflers from this species in being distinctly larger, with the 

 sculpture of the elytra stronger, the thorax more ample and the 

 elytra slightly shorter in proportion to the thorax ; the antennte are ' 

 less strongly and more gradually thickened ; the second and third 

 joints are much more slender, and the third is longer in proportion 

 to the second. Mr. Champion gives as other localities, Shirley, 

 Surrey, Gravesend, Sheerness and Weymouth ; Stoke Edith Park, 

 Herefordshire (Tomlin). 



Since the above was written a specimen of an insect previously named 

 O. p»r2)lexa, Rey. by Captain Deville, has been identified by Dr. Sharp 

 as his 0. verecunda. There appears to be considerable difliculty Avith 

 regard to the synonymy of 0. exoleta and its allies, and they seem in 

 some cases to have been confused by authors. Mr. Newbery (Ent. Mo. 

 Mag. 1910, 230) has a note on the species, which states, but does not 

 clear up the confusion;, this cannot be done without the examination 

 of further specimens. 



O. sericea, Heer. Faun. Col. Helv. i. 321, 10; Fairm. et Lab., 

 Faun. Ent. Fr., i. 432, 5, nee Boisd. et Lac. Rather elongate, fusiform, 

 slightly convex, very finely and thickly pubescent, black or fuscous 

 black, slightly shining, mouth parts and legs dark testaceous ; head 

 finely and thickly punctui-ed ; antennae scarcely as long as the head and 

 thorax together, slightly and gradually thickened, with the third joint 

 shorter than the second, and the sixth to the tenth strongly transverse ; 

 thorax rather strongly transverse, narrowed in front, slightly rounded 

 at the sides, as broad behind as the elytra, with the posterior angles 

 obtuse but not rounded, obsoletely foveolate towards the base, and with 

 an obsolete central channel, finely and very thickly punctured. Elyti^a 

 somewhat transverse, plainly longer than the thorax, finely, very 

 thickly and subrugosely punctured. Hind body distinctly narrowed 

 and slightly setose towards apex, very finely shagreened ; posterior 

 tarsi with the first joint equal in length to the two following taken 

 together ; the apex of the abdomen and the base of the abdominal 

 segments are reddish-brown. Male with the last ventral segment 

 angularly prolonged at apex. Female with the last ventral segment 

 obtusely rounded at apex. L. 2 mm. 



Dulwich Wood : introduced by Mr. H. Donisthorpe on a single 

 specimen taken by him on June 17, 1904, and recorded in the Ento- 

 mologist's Eecoi'd, xvii. 67. Woking, Guildford, Frensham and Putney 

 (Champion). The species is quite distinct from 0. nigrina, Wat., with 

 which it is confused by several continental authorities. It comes 



