April, 1913.] 73 



few specimens wlucli I have seen are bronze-black in colour, but 

 Mr. Champion writes me that he has a clear bronzy specimen. 



N. lyusillus, Wat. Notwithstanding that the locality of the 

 single specimen on which G. E. Waterhouse based his description 

 (Ent. Mag-., I, p. 207, Jan. 1838) is unknown and the insect 

 itself cannot now be found, the fact remains that we have in this 

 country an insect which satisfies the salient points of his definition. 

 Such a thing appears to have been long laiown on the continent. I 

 took two specimens at Arminghall near Norwich on May 7th, 1876, 

 and another at Weybourne, Norfolk, on August 26th, ly09. I have 

 also seen one, ex coll. Joy, from Dalwhinnie. If Thomson's descrip- 

 tion of his N. higeminus is to be strictly interpreted, his insect can 

 scarcely be the same as our pus'dlm, because he says of higeminus: 

 " metatarso intermediorum neque dilatato neque subtus spongioso." 

 From the form of N. palustris with entirely dark tibiae, this species is 

 easily distinguished by its more straight -sided and comparatively 

 longer elytra, as well as by the different shape of the last joint of the 

 labial palpi in the male. 



N. palustrin, Duft. In the series standing under this name in 

 most British collections there will probably be found some specimens 

 with the elytral striae finer and longer than the others, and really 

 belonging to the next species. Messrs. Johnson and Halbert (Proc. 

 Roy. Irish Acad. XXXI, Clare Island Survey, Part 28, 1912), record 

 a form of JV^. ■palustris with dark tibiae from Achill Island. I have 

 seen this specimen, which, except for its generally darker colour and 

 entirely piceous tibiai, is quite normal palustris. 



N. hypocrita, Spaeth. In the Cat. Col. Eur. this species is 

 credited to Putzeys who, indeed, used that name, but his description 

 contains no mention of the points which were subsequently regarded 

 by Spaeth (Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, XLIX, pp. 513-517) as 

 diagnostic of the species. N. hypocrita has been recorded from Brad- 

 field, Wellington College, Lundy Island, Garvie, Eoss, Braemar, 

 Woking, Sheppey, and Hay ling Island. I have seen it in coll, 

 Thouless from Devonshire and Lowestoft, and have taken it myself at 

 Colesborne. In a specimen sent to Dr. Joy by Capt. Deville, the striae 

 are considerably finer than in any of my specimens, and almost as 

 evanescent towards the apex as in pahistris. By the kindness of Mr. Hal- 

 bert I have been able to examine some Irish specimens of this species 

 which merit special mention. Four are from the summit of SlieveDonard 

 (2790 feet), one from Salt Lake Mountain, Donegal (about 1500 feet), 



