280 [December, 



Its small size easily separates this species from all our other 

 Longitarsi of a similar colour, except L. lycopi, and from this its much 

 weaker punctuation distinguishes it. Large specimens might possibly 

 be confused with L. succineu?, but in the latter the antennae are 

 distinctly longer, and whereas the elytral punctuation of L. pratensis 

 if weak is distinct, in L. succineiis it is almost obsolete. 



Food plants. Fowler, probably following Allard, gives the food 

 of this species as Thymus. We have, however, never found it 

 associated with that plant. On the contrary, Mr. H. Britten has 

 traced it with some certainty to Plantain, and in this he is in 

 accordance with Bedel, who states " sur les Plantago." Mr. H. C. 

 DoUman has found it associated with Helianthemum, and Mr. P. de 

 la Garde has taken it abundantly on Ulex, so that like many other 

 members of the genus it is probably polyphagous. It can generally 

 be swept off low mixed herbage, appears to be common throughout 

 the kingdom, and occurs more abundantly in AugUot and September 

 than earlier in the summer. 



Vars. — collaris, Steph. This form only differs from the normal 

 in having the thorax wholly or partly infuscate, and the posterior 

 femora darker. It occurs not uncommonly with the more usual form, 

 and it may be of interest to record that one of us has taken several 

 specimens of it from moss on the extreme summit of Snowdon where 

 no other Longitarsus occurred. 



reichei, All. [Mon. p. 366], is given by Bedel and the last 

 European catalogue (1906) as a synonym of L. pratensis. The 

 suggestion that this form was equivalent to collaris, Steph., was first 

 made by Bedel (Col. Bass. Seine, V, p. 191), but later in the same 

 work (ihid. p. 311), withdrawn.* Allard himself likens it to a small 

 L. ochroleucus, nor is there any suggestion in his description that it 

 has any affinity with L. pusillus, Gyll. (pratensis, Panz.). Bedel, 

 however, may have seen the types, but as the exponents of the 

 ' species ' in British collections are merely large examples of L. pra- 

 tensis, and as it has been on the continent universally sunk as a 

 synonym of that insect, we consider it best to delete the name entirely 

 from the British list. 



medicaginis. All. This form also was described as a distinct 

 species by Allard [Mon. p. 366], and in this as well as in the case 

 of the preceding, he has been followed by Fowler [Brit. Col. IV, 

 p. 351]. Allard's own description, however, leaves us in no doubt 



* "C'est la var. coUari't, Steph., qui a la prouotum noir (et iiou le reiclui comma je I'ai dit)." 



