ifi6.) 175 



is on the whole rather more slender than in minntns, has a shorter 

 basal piece with the chitinisatiou encroaching more on the membrane, 

 tlie struts shorter, the barrel more slender, the lateral lobes with less 

 oblir^ue inner margin. 



50. — Helopliorus grumdaris L. 



This is reputed to be a very abundant species in Europe; in Britain, 

 however, it is rai"e, and as very few examples from the Continent are 

 before me, I am but imperfectly acquainted with it. 



It is a short, very convex insect, rather coarsely sculptured, about 2| mm. 

 long, but varying, though not greatly, in this respect. The thorax is rather 

 short, very convex transversely, stronglj^ granulate, metallic, biit varying in 

 colonr, from bi-assy to almost steel-blne, the lateral margin is but little set out, 

 and usually exhibits little or no trace of yellow colour. The elyti-a are sordid 

 testaceous, but little maculate, the punctvires are rather large, and placed in 

 such a way that fovir of them form an almost true square. The wings are 

 large, a little more or a little less than 3 mm. long (fig. 73). These characters 

 bring the insect very near to H. discrepans, which has longer elytra, and an 

 aedeagus with struts very long in comparison with the barrel, or cone, of the 

 median lobe. 



I have been able to examine only one aedea.gus (fig. 61) of granu- 

 /«/•/« ; it is of short and broad proportions, but without any remarkable 

 fea.ture ; the lateral lobes are rather broad, quite rounded externally, 

 as will be seen from the figure. 



H. granularis is at present a rarity in Britain : by great searching 

 for it I have only secured 20 specimens at Brockenhurst in the last two 

 or three years, and the only other localities yet known for it are Strood 

 in Kent, and County Down, North Ireland. 



One of the specimens sent to me by M. Louis Pandelle froiii the 

 Pyrenees as H. discrepans appears to me to be a variety of gramdaria. 

 Finland examples from Sahlberg agree with our British specimens ; 

 I have no satisfactory evidence of its occurrence in GJ-ermany, where it 

 would appear it is not well distinguished from small minutus by 

 collectors, as there can be little doubt of its existing there. 



■j1. — Helophorns yfe'itensis Sharp. 



This species, so far as is at present ascertained, differs from 

 granularis only by the abbreviated wings, and a slight distinction in 

 the aedeagus (fig. 62), which is not quite so bi"oad and has the lateral 

 lobes less rounded externally. This phallic diiference is but slight. 



