STAPHYLINID.E. BISNIUS. 247 



tions appearing tessellated with ash colour^ the penultimate joint with a 

 delicate snowy edge: legs pitchy-red, with the femora obscure: palpi 

 black ; antennae pitchy-black. 

 Var. /3. Ca. littoralis. Steph. Catal I. c. No. 3015.— Head and thorax black ; 

 elytra entirely pale pitchy-brown^ with paler lateral margins ; the abdomen 

 the same, with tessellated patches of ash-coloured down ; legs pale red. 



Var. y. Ca. tessellatus. Steph. Catal. I. c. N'o. 3016.— Slender, head and thorax 

 pitchy ; elytra and abdomen paler, with the latter beautifully tessellated 

 with blackish and ash-coloured pubescence: legs pale red. 



Not uncommon beneath sea-weeds on the coasts of Essex, Kent, 

 and Sussex ; and I believe on other parts of the sea-shore. " Crwm 

 lyn-burrows." — L. IV. Dillwyny Esq. 



Genus DXIII. — Bisnius, Leach MSS. 



AntenncB rather stout, the basal joint long, curved, a little thickened at the 

 apex, second and third shorter, clavate, the remainder very short, subcam- 

 panulate, the terminal one abruptly acuminated. Palpi subfiliform, maxil- 

 lary, with the third joint thickened, the terminal one rather more slender and 

 acuminated : mandibles long, curved, very acute ; head broad, rather large, 

 transverse : eyes moderate : thorax truncate in front, obscurely rounded 

 behind : body rather depressed : abdomen broad, slightly margined ; legs 

 moderate, compressed ; anterior tai-si slightly dilated in both sexes. 



Bisnius is apparently more nearly allied to Raphirus than to 

 Cafius — as placed in the second edition of my Nomenclature : from 

 the former genus it may be distinguished by the minuteness of its 

 eyes; and from the latter by having the terminal joint of the 

 antennae abruptly acuminated. The species are usually found in 

 dung, or beneath putrid fuci on the coasts. 



Sp. 1. cephalotes. Ater, capita magno, thorace pedibusque piceis, elytris nigro- 



(Eneis. (Long. corp. 2| lin.) 

 St. cephalotes. Gravenhorst. — Bi. cephalotes. Steph. Catal. 283. No. 3017. 



Black: head orbiculate, large, shining, glabrous, much broader than the 

 thorax, irregularly and deeply punctate, with four or five large impressions 

 between the eyes, placed transversely : thorax dark pitchy, glabrous, 

 shining, with two punctures on each side, then three, and four towards the 

 middle of the disc, placed in rows : elytra blackish-brass, slightly pubescent, 

 abdomen also somewhat pubescent, with the margins of the segments 

 beneath and the apex rufous: legs pitchy, with the tarsi rufous: antennae 

 with the four basal joints black, the remainder dull ashy-rufous. 



