im.] 293 



The males have a partieiilai'ly oblong appearance, and tlie widening of the basal 

 joint of the front tarsi reaches its maximum of development in certain examples of 

 this species. These accentuated males form the //. long icollis of British collections, 

 wliatever the H. longicollis of Allard may be (Weise puts the latter as a var. of 

 oleracea, L.). The differences in punctuation which the late Mr. Rye (Ent. Mo. 

 IMag., xii, 179) ascribed to longicollis and ericeti do not exist, and it is somewhat 

 remarkable that all his specimens standing under the latter name are females, and 

 those standing under the former name are, with one exception, all males. Copper- 

 coloured i^'i fusco-seneous specimens are occasionally found, especially in the north, 

 and it is one of the latter which has been named oleracea, var. nigra, by Reitter, 

 for Fowler, and is figured by the latter under that name (Col. Brit. Islands, iv, 

 pi. 136, fig. 13). 



H. TALUSTRis, Weise. — In the entire absence of male specimens, I can only say 

 that this species is to be distinguished from oleracea and pusilla by its very dark 

 blue colour, and more evident punctuation ; it stands in most collections under the 

 name of helianthemi, All., and the dearth of males is, therefore, very remarkable. 

 Dr. Sharp is of opinion that the males of this species do not have the basal joint of 

 the tarsi dilated, but I have failed to find a male in his series of fifteen examples. 

 The specimens are very uniform in size, and in colour most nearly resemble jff. lythri. 

 The late Mr. Rye, writing of this species (Ent. Mo. Mag., xii, 179), says that he was 

 indebted to Mr. Chappell for the only male which he had seen, of which the intro- 

 mittent organ differed very much from that of oleracea and montana {i. e., pusilla, 

 Dufts.) ; this identical male is now before me, and the adeagus is dissected out, but, 

 unfortunately, it is unmistakeably that of oleracea, L. ; as there mounted it certainly 

 difPers very much from that of oleracea, as exhibited in the same collection, but the 

 difference is entirely owing to the fact that they are so mounted that the upper sur- 

 face of the one is compared with the under surface of the other ; on dismounting 

 the cedeagics of the so-called helianthemi and comparing its under surface with that 

 of the ready-mounted cvdeagiis of oleracea, I found them to be identical in form ; 

 the specimen, moreover, is a perfectly normal oleracea in appearance, and is quite 

 unlike the six female specimens of typical helianthemi {i.e., palustris, Weise), which 

 accompany it. Mr. Rye's male was named by Allard himself, but Weise puts that 

 author's helianthemi as a synonym of pusilla, Dufts. Dr. Sharp, who has long had 

 our insect separated in his collection as a new species, informs me that it generally 

 occurs by single specimens, and this is my experience of the species in the field ; it 

 is found in marshy places. 



H. OLERACEA, L., and pusilla, Dufts., are only to be determined with cer- 

 tainty by a reference to the form of the adeagus, although, speaking generally, the 

 latter may be distinguished by its smaller size, and comparatively wider and shorter 

 elytra, the latter having a very broad square appearance at the shoulders ; in colour 

 both species are very variable, being indifferently green, greenish-blue, greenish- 

 black, or black ; the variety of the former with greenish-blue elytra and metallic- 

 green thorax is a very handsome insect. In dealing with the English literature of 

 these insects it is necessary to bear in mind that the names oleracea and pusilla have 

 at different times both been applied to the insect here called oleracea, L. H. pusilla, 

 as above defined, is the insect which was introduced into our lists as H. montana, 



