60 STAPHYLINID^. 



dilated than the female, and the sixth ventral segment of the abdomen 

 strongly emarginate. 



Taken in some numbers at Chiddingfold, Surrey, and introduced 

 as British by Mr. Donisthorpe (Ent. Record, x. 1898, 196). It has 

 never been taken in any other part of Britain, but Mr. Donisthorpe 

 found it in numbers last year (1910) in the old locality. The species is 

 recorded by Mulsant and Rey from the Pyrenees, and is very rare. 

 In form it is like Q. riparius, from which it may be known by its colour 

 and by the four punctures on the forehead. 



Mr. Donisthorpe (Ent. Record, xi. 1899, 266) describes the larva of 

 this species, which he says bears a very strong superficial resemblance 

 to the perfect insect : 



"Head and prothorax horny; head of a yellowish-red, prothorax 

 dark ruby-red ; mesothorax and metathorax of a less horny consis- 

 tency, same colour as prothorax; abdomen soft, of a dirty blackish - 

 brown colour above, grey beneath, legs and antennae yellow; head 

 sub-quadrate, flat, smooth ; antennae four-jointed, the basal joints being 

 the longest; third joint curved, and with a very small joint, or appen- 

 dage, on its outer side near apex ; last joint small ; mandibles strong, 

 curved and furnished with a large tooth in middle of inner side ; 

 labrum transverse ; labium small ; labial palpi two-jointed, second 

 joint very short and pointed ; maxillae cylindrical ; maxillary palpi two- 

 jointed, second short and pointed ; prothorax transverse, almost as broad 

 as head ; mesothorax and metathorax transverse, a little less broad than 

 prothorax; abdomen nine-jointed, segments of about equal length, but 

 getting gradually narrower to apex ; the terminal segment furnished 

 with two long cerci, which are two-jointed and furnished with numerous 

 simple setae ; anal appendage elongate and horny, used to assist pro- 

 gression ; legs three-jointed. L. 6 mm." 



Considerable difficulty is sometimes found in separating Q. rufipes, 

 Grav., and Q. aftemiatus, Gyll. : the following character, for which I am 

 indebted to Mr. Newbery, will be found useful : 



I. First joint of posterior tarsi distinctly (one 



third) longer than the last joint . . . Q. rufipes, 6Vav. 



II, First joint of posterior tarsi subequal to the 



last joint ....... Q. attenuatus, G)/U. 



Q. obliteratus, Er. (Gen. et Spec. Staph., 519, 38). Elongate, 

 fusiform, finely pubescent, black, with the palpi, the base of the 

 antennae, the legs, the apical margins of the segments of the hind body, 

 the suture, sides, and posterior margins of the elytra, and a humeral 

 spot or streak yellow or reddish-yellow ; sometimes the elytra are 

 entirely yellow, with the scutellary region and a broad streak extending 

 therefrom and nearly reaching the apex, black ; head and thorax 

 smooth, shining, the latter about as long as broad, narrowed in front, 

 and a little narrower than the elytra at base ; elytra sub-quadrate, 

 about as long as the thorax, finely and densely punctured, rather less 

 plainly behind, iridescent; first joint of posterior tarsi scarcely longer 



