52 STAPHYLINID^. 



Dlestota testacea, Kraatz, Wiegm. Ar-ch., 1859, 7 ; D. mayeti, Muls. et 

 Key, Op. Ent. xiv. 196. Mr. W" E. Sharp (Ent. Mo. Mag. xlv. (2 Ser. 

 XX.), 1909, 2G9) records the capture of this exotic species among the 

 debris of decayed wood, ikc, at Shirley, Surrey ; it has also been found 

 in Southern France; it is, however, originally an Indian insect, and 

 numerous species of the same genus have been described by Dr. Sharp 

 from Central and South America and the Hawaiian Islands. It cannot 

 therefore be regarded as indigenous, although, as Mr. W. E. Sharp 

 observes, it may be difficult to conjecture the exact method of its trans- 

 plantation to the hills of Surrey if it be indeed an alien. The following 

 is a short description of the insect as given by the finder : 



" Light castaneous, with the head, the apical portion of the elyti'a, 

 and the extremity of the hind body darker ; antennre stout, strongly 

 thickened at apex, apical joints transverse ; head very transverse and 

 as broad as thorax ; thorax strongly transverse, with all the angles 

 rounded, very finely and densely punctured, with a strong impression 

 at the base ; elytra quadrate, rather wider than, and punctured similarly 

 to, the thorax ; hind body sub-parallel, exceedingly finely punctured. 

 L. 2^ mm." 



Superficially the insect resembles a Sipalia, but is much more shiny 

 and more robust and broader than either of the British members of 

 the genus, and the elytra are more convex. 



ARENA, Fauvel. 



A. octavii, Fauvel (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1862, p. 292). Elongate, 

 linear, finely pubescent, pitch-black, with the antenna?, thorax, elytra, 

 apex of the hind body and the legs reddish castaneous ; head as broad 

 as the thorax, rather coarsely jjunctured ; antenna? a little shorter than 

 the head and thorax together, strongly and gradually thickened towards 

 the apex ; first joint scarcely thickened, 2-3 obconical, 4-10 gradually 

 thicker, sub-moniliform, 7-10 strongly transverse, eleventh joint equal 

 to the two preceding together ; oval or oval-oblong, obtusely acuminate 

 at apex ; thorax sub-ti'ansverse, finely and thickly punctured ; elytra 

 transverse, evidently shorter than the thorax, rather finely and thickly 

 punctured ; hind body sub-parallel, about as broad at base as the elytra, 

 somewhat shiny, sparingly pubescent, and sparingly and obsoletely 

 punctured.. Male with the last segment of the hind body evidently 

 rounded and a little overlapping the last ventral segment ; female with 

 the last segment obtusely rounded. L. 2 mm. 



Ilfracombe (Tait) ; Weymouth, Chesil Beach (Blatch) ; Dawlish 

 Warren (De la Garde) ; Llanbedr (Attlee). Introduced as British by 

 the late Mr. VV. G. Blatch (Ent. Mo. Mag. xxviii. (2 Ser. iii.), 1892, IGO). 

 The species is found on the sea-shore under stones, &c., embedded in 

 the sand, or in dead birds on the shore. 



The genus Arena, Fauv., is closely allied to Phytosus, Curt., from 

 which it difiers in being a little more parallel, with the hind body less 



