1912.] 203 



L. TABiDus, F. [Syst. Ent. (1775), p. 115]. 



8jns.-verbasci, Panz. [1794]; Stepli. [Brit. Col., p. 295]; All. 

 [Moil., p. 120] ; Weise [Nat. Ins. Deutschl. VI, pp. 985, 

 1040]. 



Quite the largest of the British Longitarsi. Of a rotund oval, very convex 

 shape, unicolorous olive brown without any trace of rufous. Head smooth 

 between eyes. Antenna3 long, with last three or four joints inf uscate. Thorax : 

 transverse, very finely l)ordered, not alutaceovxs, either quite smooth or very 

 obsoletely punctured, usually concolorous with elytra, bvxt occasionally of a 

 darker brown. Elytra : not or hardly alvitaceous, very finely punctured, rather 

 more strongly at base near siiture ; aj)ices separately roixnded. Legs concolorous, 

 posterior femora sometimes slightly darker ; posterior tibial spiirs very long and 

 curved at apex ; first joint of anterior tarsi very slightly enlarged in <J . Under- 

 side concolorous with upper, but darker. Winged. Length, 3 — 4 mm. 



The larg"e size, exceptional colour, and long tibial spurs, easily dis- 

 tinguish this species from all our other British Longitarsi. 



The food plant is Verhascmn iliapsus and V. nigrum. It appears 

 to occur generally, but not coinnionly, over the greater part of England 

 as far north as Yorkshire, but we have no records from either Scotland 

 or Ireland. 



Vars. - thapsi. Marsh. (Ent. Brit. I, p. 202). Similar to the type, 

 but with the sutural line darker ; the antennae, legs, and underside are 

 also rather darker than in the more usual form. 



Bedel and the European catalogue consider L. sisymbrii, F. (Ent. 

 Syst. I, 2, p. 31), to be a varietal form of this species. Of this we are 

 doubtful ; it appears to be a form spotted or banded with black, and in 

 any case does not seem to have been recorded in this country. 



L. rutilus, 111. [Mag. VI, pp. 67, 165]. This species, having had 

 a previously provisional place in our lists, was confirmed by Rye as 

 British on the strength of specimens taken by the late Mr. MoncreafE 

 near Portsmouth (see Ent. Mo. Mag. VII, p. 206, and Ent. Ann. 1872, 

 p. 89), and since that time other collectors have on various occasions 

 taken examples of what they believed to have been this species. Most 

 of these specimens we have seen, and Mr. A. A. Moncreaff has been 

 good enough to allow us to examine the whole of the examples standing 

 over the name L. rutilus in his late father's cabinet. Without exception 

 we I'efer these specimens either to L. agilis or to the form rufescens of 

 L. jacohsem. No doubt the very considerable variation in the strength 



Q 2 



