156 Mr. W. Webster on a new British species of Skenea. 



have antennse equal to it in thickness), it may be quickly distin- 

 guished by its gloomy black colour, and by the dull ash-grey 

 bloom on the elytra. The pubescence on the thorax is dull 

 grizzly yellow, a good deal coarser than the strong rich russet 

 yellow of tristis and the other thick-clubbed species ; and the 

 bloom on the elytra wants the purplish tinge observable in 

 these species ; and there are no yellow hairs along the base or 

 margins of the elytra, which are not lighter in colour themselves 

 than the thorax. Immature specimens wholly ferruginous brown 

 are occasionally met with. The thickness of the club of the 

 antennse is also not always equally great, but always greater 

 than in any other species. 



As I have already mentioned in speaking of the varieties of 

 tristis, similar varieties occur of this species, viz. : — 



Var. grandicolliSy with larger broad thorax. 



Var. tristis, with narrow short thorax and broad elytra. 



Var. rotundicollis, of the shape of rotundicollis, but larger. 



Var. nigrita, of the shape of nigrita. 



For the differences between these varieties and the similarly 

 named varieties of tristis, see the remarks on page 150. 



As I have already mentioned, this species used very generally 

 to be made to represent both tristis and chrysomeloides by British 

 and even foreign entomologists. 



It is found under small dead birds and mammals. Mr. Bates 

 of Leicester has taken hundreds (and supplied me largely) by a 

 simple trap which is very useful for taking some of our rarest 

 Clavicornes. He puts three or four rabbits^ feet into a soda-water 

 bottle, buries it in a favourable locality, so that the mouth of the 

 bottle is level with the ground, and in a week or ten days the 

 interior of the bottle is swarming with insects, among which 

 great rarities occasionally occur. 



[To be continued.] 



XVI. — On a new British species of Skenea. 

 By W. Webster, Esq. 



[With a Plate.] 



To the Evlitors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, 

 Through the kindness of C. Spence Bate, Esq., I am enabled to 

 send you a drawing (PI. VIII. figs. 12, 13) of an extremely 

 minute Skenea which I found in sand, taken amongst Cot^allina 

 officinalis from rock-pools at Gwyllyn Vase near Falmouth. 

 It is involute, like Skenea nitidissima, and equally umbilicated 



