266 [December, 



EcDXtTRUS HELVETicirs, Etii.— 3 ^ and 3 ? im., in company with Epeons assimilis. 

 EcDXURUS TENOStJS, F.— 1 $ im., and perhaps 1 $ and 2 ? subim. Lac de Joux. 

 EcDYFEtrs FLFMiNUM, Pict.— 1 $ subim. Lac de Joux, 

 ECDXUED-S LATERALIS, Curt. — 1 ? im. 



Seaton, Devon : 



September 23rd, 1898. 



SOMALOTA {RHOPOLOCERA) CLAVIGERA, ScmBk [CLAVICORNIS 

 Epp.): an addition to the list of BRITISH STAPHYLINIBM. 



BT G. C. CHAMPION, P.Z.S. 



Some months ago Mr. E. G. EUiman, of Chesham, sent me a speci- 

 men of a peculiar Homalota for examination, and as the species was 

 quite unknown to me, I suggested that he should try and obtain more 

 of it. This he has now succeeded in doing, five examples in all 

 having been found by him at Tring, in rotten leaves, lying in a ditch, 

 at the base of one of the southern slopes of the Chiltern Hills. The 

 insect proves to be referable to S". clavigera, Scriba (Stett. ent. Zeit., 

 1859, p. 414), subsequently described by Eppelsheim (Deutsche ent. 

 Zeitschr., 1878, p. 40) as a Oyrophcena, under the name of G. clavi- 

 cornis, a widely distributed species on the continent, occurring rarely 

 in Erance (Mareil-Marly, near Paris), Germany, Austria, Hungary, 

 Italy, Transsylvauia, the Caucasus, &c. Its principal characters are 

 sufficiently expressed in Scriba's diagnosis : " Nigra, nitida, minus 

 dense griseo-pubescens, antennis validis apicem versus valde incras- 

 satis, antennarum basi pedibusque testaceis, thorace transversim sub- 

 quadrato, sequali, abdomine supra segmentis anterioribus parce 

 subtiliter punctatis, posterioribus Isevigatis." It may also be noted 

 that the head is much narrower than the thorax, and the thorax 

 narrower than the elytra, so that the body appears to be widened from 

 the head downwards, the general shape being very like that of Oyro- 

 phcena strictula, Er. (as noted by Eppelsheim), except that it is much 

 narrower. The head is small and somewhat rounded, subparallel 

 immediately behind the eyes, and has a shallow longitudinal depression 

 or groove down the centre. The antennae are very short, hot reaching 

 the base of the thorax, and strongly incrassate, joints 4 — 10 becoming 

 more and more transverse, 11 about as long as 9 and 10 united. The 

 abdomen is comparatively broad and parallel-sided. Some of the speci- 

 mens have the head more distinctly channelled, and these are probably 



