46 STAPHYLINID^. 



company with its normal host Formica sanguined, at Woking, and he 

 has since found it in large numbers. It has not been lound with any 

 other ant in Great Britain, but it has been taken on the Continent with 

 Formica rufa and F. jyratensis. 



DINARDA, Mannerheim. 



D. hagensi, Wasm. Wien. Ent. Zeit., 1889, p. 281 ; Ent. Record 

 xvii,, 1905, pp. 1 81-182. Closely allied to D. dentata, but on the average, 

 smaller and paler, the red colour being moi'e tinged Avith a yellowish shade ; 

 thorax broader in proportion to the elytra ; the thorax and the elytra 

 have the posterior angles less sharply pointed, and are not so strongly 

 punctured as in D. dentata, the punctures being of the same character 

 as in the last-named species but less strongly marked ; the elytra are 

 less explanate at the sides ; the antennae are slightly more slender and 

 longer, joints 4-10 being less strongly transverse. L. 2|-3 mm. 



Taken byMr. Donisthorpe(whoaddsittothe British list, I.e. p. 181) in 

 numbers at Bournemouth in nests of i^ormic« e;:csec<«, and subsequently 

 with the same ant at Par-khurst Forest, Isle of Wight, in 1 909. F. exsecta 

 makes a small nest of ling and grass, and is very scarce in this country. 



Most of the English examples, as pointed out by Wasmann. (Zoolo- 

 gist, 1908, (59), show no raised keeled border to the elytra, in which point 

 these specimens depart from the generic diagnosis of Dinarda (" elytro- 

 rum margine laterali cai'inato "). 



D. pygmsea, Wasm. Deutsch Ent. Zeit., 1894, p. 277. Smaller 

 than the preceding, from which it is distinguished by having the 

 thorax at base scarcely broader than the elytra. This is due to the 

 shape of the thorax, which has the sides less strongly rounded and 

 sub-parallel before base; the thoi-ax is more strongly sculptured and 

 rugose than in D. hagensi, and the joints of the antennte are more 

 transverse than in D. dentata ; there is a distinct furrow or central im- 

 pression on the head. L. 2J-2| mm. 



Cornwall, Bovisand near Plymouth (J. H. Keys) ; in nests of 

 Form^ica rnfiharhis, var. fusco-rnjibarbis, Forel., sometimes in company 

 with Atemeles paradoxus. The species is very abundant in the nests of 

 this ant at Whitsand Bay. Introduced as British by Mr. Donisthorpe 

 (Ent. Record xviii., 1906, 217). 



We now possess four species of Dinarda as British ; * they may be 

 distinguished as follows : 



I. Thorax distinctly broader than the elytra; 

 L. 3-4 mm. 

 i. Posterior angles of thorax less produced ; 

 L 3^"^ "ovm. ; head without longitudinal furrow 

 or marked central impression . . . . D^ maerkeli, Kies. 



* In the European catalogue of Heyden, Keitter and Weise the other three of 

 these species are regarded as varieties of D. dentata : and Wasmann apparently 

 considers them as subspecies. I retain them liere as species in deference to Mr. 

 Donisthorpe, who has devoted much study to the ants' nest beetles.— W. W. F. 



