64 STAPHYLiNID^. 



G. trossulus, Nordm. Symb. 102. This species is very distinct 

 and can be easily known by the short elytra; the head is large and 

 broad and the antennse rather short, with the penultimate joints slightly 

 transveise. The thorax is often pitchy; in the male the a;deagus 

 ends in a very slender appendage like a cat's claw ; it is perfectly 

 distinct and entirely difierent from the same organ in G. nigritulus. 

 L. 5 mm. 



This is by no means a common species and very local. Dr. Joy 

 records it from one locality only, in Berkshire. Mr. J. Taylor has 

 taken it in the Isle of Wight, Dr. Sharp at Braemar. 1 had not 

 a single specimen among those standing under the name in my 

 collection. 



G. nigritulus, Grav., Micr. 41. This insect may be recognised 

 bv its large size, broad head and long antennse, of which the penultimate 

 joints sometimes appear to be longer than broad, and also by the light 

 yellow palpi, legs and antennte; the elytra are often, but not always, 

 brownish. The male characters are practically the same as in G. velox, 

 which is described below. L. 5j-5-| mm. 



This is the commonest British sj^ecies ; it is found everywhere in 

 grass heaps, &c., but is not confined to these. I have taken it in shingle 

 almost below high -water mark at Branscombe, near Sidmouth, Devon. 



G. stipes, Sharp (Ent. Mo. Mag. xlvi. (2 Ser. xxi.), 1910, p. 129). 

 This is a black-looking species, with the head large and broad, 

 especially in the male ; it is about the size of G. trossulus, but is broader, 

 and the elytra are exceptionally broad in proportion to the thorax ; it 

 is distinguished from all its allies by the distinctly transverse penul- 

 timate joint of the entirely black antennpe ; Dr. Joy says that the legs 

 are rather intermediate in colour between the light- and dark-legged 

 species, but in my specimens they are variable and in some are almost 

 black ; the species may further be distinguished by the last ventral 

 segment of the hind body being rounded and entire in the male ; in the 

 other species it is more or less broadly emarginate ; the sedeagus has 

 at the apex a soft appendage which is not reflexed or acuminate. 

 L. 5-5^ mm. 



Very scarce, as far as is at present known : Plymouth (Keys) ; 

 Mickleham (Champion) ; Cambridge (Sharp) ; Ryde, I. of AV. (Donis- 

 thorpe). I have taken a small series in a grass heap in my garden at 

 Earley, Reading, and Dr. Joy has obtained a good series by carefully 

 searching among many hundreds of G. nigriUdus and G. pennatus from 

 flood rubbish collected from Thatcham, Berks. 



G. pennatus. Sharp (Ent. Mo. Mag. xlvi. (2 Ser. xxi.), 1910, 

 p. loO). This species is smaller and narrower than the three preceding, 

 and has a pioportionately much narrower head ; the penultimate 

 joints of the antennje are about as long as broad ; the base of the 

 antennse, the legs and the palpi are testaceous; apart from its narrower 

 form it is chiefly distinguished by the male characters, which are quite 

 distinct from those of any other species ; in this sex the last ventral 



