4 rJanuary, 



deletiiicf " hrnnnevx " altogether, feelini:;- that noucoufonnity with the 

 present Continental usage, although open to objection, is perhaps pre- 

 ferable to the confusion which might be caused by a reversal of names 

 so well known and understood by Britisli students. 



L. luridus is one of the most inconstant species of British beetles. 

 The shape is generally narrow with elytra regularly oval, but it varies 

 very much according to the presence or absence of wings, and the 

 degree of maturity of the individual. The colour varies from pale 

 testaceous through all shades of brown, red-brown, or pitchy, to blaclc 

 (viger, Brit. Colls.) ; the darkening of the suture is occasionally dis- 

 tinctly marked, but usually imperceptilile ; the margin of the elytra is 

 sometimes lighter than the median area, and a form occurs with 

 lighter elytral apices somewhat resembling Z. holscdicns. 



Antennte: black with first three to five joints testaceous or brown. Thorax : 

 transverse, bordered, exceedingly variable in sciilpture, as a riile alntaceons, 

 with distinct scattered punctuation. Elytra : coloured variably as above, aliita- 

 ceous, with punctuation always strong, sometimes very coarse and almost 

 rugose, sometimes slightly seriate ; apices sepai'ately rounded. Legs : testa- 

 ceous with tarsi and posterior femora dai'ker, first joint of anterior tarsi of ^ 

 slightly enlarged. Underside usually pitchy. Wings present or rudimentary. 

 Length, 1^^ — 2\ mm. The most stable character in this species and that by 

 which it can be most certainly recognized is the coarse, strong, elytral 

 punctuation. 



From L. casta neus it may be known by the absence of the long 

 apical cilia, and the very diffei-eut length and colour of the antennae will 

 easily distinguish it from L. rvhujinosus. 



The food plant of this, the most abundant of our Lnngitarsi, 

 remains unknown. The species is almost certainly polyphagous, and 

 the conjecture may perhaps be hazarded that variety of nutrition may 

 have some relation to its extreme morphological instability.* It is to 

 be swept generally fronr low and mixed herbage, and appears to be 

 more common in autumn than in sj^ring or sununer, and is universally 

 distributed. 



L. hrunneus, Duft. — This form has had a place in oiu- lists as a 

 species since the Waterhouse Catalogue of 1858, and may be separable 

 from " luridus " by its robuster form, lighter colour and possession of 

 wings. In view, however, of the extreme variability of L. luridus, we 

 have no hesitation in considering it as a form of that species, and the 

 latest European Catalogue (Heyden, Eeitter, and Weise, 1906) adopts 



*■ Aiijio.sitc to tills i.s a rciniuk liy C.-qit. St. Claire Devilk- (in Hit.) viz. :".... For exaruple, 

 spechnous of I. obiiteratus taken on !-ulvia are sejiaralile at the first view from tlio.se taken on 

 TliT/inua And Hatuyeja." 



