STENIDiE. PLATYSTHETUS. 311 



Abundant in some places on the coast — " Devonshire.'''' — Dr. 

 Leach. " In profusion on the sands covered by the high tides in the 

 vicinity of the Tees, Yorkshire" — Rev. G. T. Rudd. 



Sp. 5. Talpa. Niger, subpuhescens, antennis piceis, iho?^ace obsolete unisulcato 



postice attenuate. (Long. corp. 2 lin.) 

 Oxyt. Talpa. Gyllenhall.—Ste. Talpa. Steph. Catal. 292. No. 3176. 



Black, obscure: head rather narrower than the thorax, subcordate, smooth, 

 pubescent, somewhat glabrous behind, with a very obsolete tubercle before 

 the eyes, these latter hemispheric and prominent: thorax scarcely longer 

 than the head, anteriorly truncate, the sides rounded, and suddenly attenuated 

 posteriorly, convex, slightly pubescent, smooth, with an obsolete impressed 

 line on the back : elytra subpubescent, punctulated, very black or bluish : 

 abdomen rather shining, a little pubescent, with the apex slightly acumi- 

 nated : legs black, with the tarsi red : antenna pitchy, with the base black. 

 Found on the coast of Devonshire, and also " with the preceding 



species in plenty.'" — Rev. G. T. Rudd. 



Gexus DXXXII. — Platysthetus, Mannerheim. 



Antennas obscurely geniculated, short, very much thickened at the apex, the 

 basal joint stoutest, clavate, the second and third slender obconic, the fol- 

 lowing short nodose, the terminal longer oblong-ovate, obtuse. Palpi unequal, 

 maxillary with the second joint clavate, third subcylindric, of equal length, 

 fourth small, subulate: labrum narrow, transverse: mandibles stout, in- 

 curved, acuminated at the apex, the right one bidentate within, the left uni- 

 dentate : body short, depressed: head large, wider than the thorax in the 

 males, of equal width in the females : thorax broad, with a central channel : 

 e/j/^ra depressed : legs slender, short; tibia all denticulate-pectinate on the 

 outer edge, anteriorly a little curved and compressed, with an excision on the 

 outer apex : tarsi retractile, triarticulate, the terminal joint longer than the 

 others united. 



The broad deeply unisulcate thorax of the insects of this genus, 

 combined with their abbreviated form, simple antennee, dissimilar tarsi, 

 legs, &c., serve to distinguish them from the true Oxyteli and the 

 other genera of this family : — the species usually prefer dung, in 

 which they sometimes congregate in myriads, in the early spring and 

 summer months. 



Sp. 1. cornutus. Ater, nitidus, ehjtris litura Jlava, tliorace unisulcato, cnpite 

 bispinoso. (Long. corp. l^ lin.) 



Oxyt. cornutus. Gravenhnrsl. — Stcph. Catal. 293. No. 3178. — I'l. coinutus. 

 Steph. Nonicn. 2d edit. col. IUj. 



