Mr. A. Murray's Monograph of the genus Catoi^s. 145 



the outward curve commences : the posterior margin is almost 

 straight, only a little sinuate towards the middle. The elytra 

 are covered with a brownish- blue or purplish bloom, and with 

 some yellow pubescence most observable at the base and along the 

 basal margins^. Under the bloom the elytra themselves are 

 brownish, lightest at the base ; they are densely punctate, with 

 feeble traces of striae, in the middle somewhat expanded, behind 

 oval-acuminate. Under side and thighs dark brown, tibise fer- 

 ruginous brown, tarsi ferruginous yellow. 



Erichson adds that in the males the extreme termination of 

 each elytron is produced into a single Y\g. 16. ' r/- 



point. In the females the point is com- 

 monly rounded. My experience is that \ I / \ I / 

 it varies indifferently. \JL/ \JL/ 



This is a variable species, and under it, 

 I think, should be comprehended not only the C abdominalis of 

 Rosenhauer, the longulus of Kellner, and the montivagus of Heer, 

 but also the grandicollis of Erichson, and probably the rotundi- 

 collis of Kellner. These I shall include as varieties under this 

 species, giving however a separate description of each, and where 

 I have not seen the variety in nature, quoting the words of the 

 author who described it. 



Yar. A. C, abdominalis, Rosenh. Beitr. Ins. Fn. Eur, i. p. 23.' 

 ^* Obion go-ovatus, niger; antennarum basi, abdominisque seg- 

 ' mentis 2 primis ferrugineis ; prothorace basi apiceque latitu- 

 dine sequali, angulis posticis rectis ; elytris obsoletissime stri- 

 atis, antennis abrupte clavatis. ijt^ ^rff 



"Long. If lin., lat. 1 lin. .../J 



" Very similar to the C. nigricans, but smaller and not so 

 convex ; particularly like the C. montivagus, Heer, Fn. Helv. i. 

 381. 1 should consider it perhaps to belong to the latter, were 

 it not that the posterior part of the abdomen of two examples 

 which I possess from different districts of the Tyrol is uniformly 

 of a different colour from that of the rest, a character which is 

 not known to me in any other Catops, and which Heer must cer- 

 tainly have observed in describing his species had it existed in 

 it. In the new species also the colour of the base of the an- 

 tennse and of the feet is much darker and the thorax is broader. 



* It is perhaps scarcely necessary to say, that in speaking of the bloom 

 and the puhescence on these species, I am speaking of perfectly fresh speci- 

 mens in good condition. When the insect gets greasy and dirty the bloom no 

 longer exists, and the yellow hairs get clogged together so that they look 

 black. The best way in such cases is to turn them about in different direc- 

 tions, till the eye catches the light la which the pubescence or bloom best 

 shows itself. 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist, Ser. 2. Vel.xmik^ . -^«.iar..K..... , 



