1911.] 57 



A NEW BRITISH QUEDIUS. 

 BY D. SHARP, M.A., F.R.S. 



QUEDIUS HAMMIANUS, SJJ. n. 



Q. (s. str. (ian^lb.), Elon(iatti.s,suJ)paraUelus, niger,elijtris ri(fis,a)dennis 

 pedibu.s-gui' panUie rufix, tihiis /oiioi-lbu-'i j)/us minusve infuxrafls ; tJytris 

 tliorace parum hrexnorihus. Lon<i. corp., 15 mm., lat., 21 mm. 



Hah. : Anglia. 



This species is very closely allied to Q. molochinus, but is perfectly 

 distinct ; it is a little larc^er, ^perceptibly broader, brighter in colour, 

 the elytra are just a little longer, the wings ai'e 7 nun. long and pointed 

 (in molochinus they are 4| mm. long and very obtuse), and subtruncate 

 at the extremity. If the wings are cut oft' so as to exhibit the full 

 length, then | mm. should be added to the above measurements. The 

 sedeagus shows good distinctions ; but the external abdominal charac- 

 ters of the two are very much alike. 



I have named this insect in honour of Mr. A. H. Hanim, of the 

 Oxford University Museum, an excellent Natviralist and a kind friend. 

 The species was pointed out to me as distinct by the late Gr. R. Crotch 

 qu^ite forty years ago, but I have not specially investigated it until 

 now. Apparently it is rather rare, and is probably a coast insect, as 

 I have found it only at Deal, Strood, Lyniington and Hayling Island. 



Brockenhiirst : 



February 10th, 1911. 



BLEDIUS FRACTICORNIS AND ITS BRITISH ALLIES. 

 BY D. SHARP, M.A., P,R.S. 



This group of species is distinguished by there being no open 

 chink on the side of the prothorax, by the pronotum possessing a 

 channel on the middle, and by the existence of a rather large delicate 

 membrane on the hind part of the fifth ventral segment in the male. 

 B.fracticornis is the type of the genus Tadunus of Schiodte. In his 

 genus Bargiis (of which fallipes is the type) there is an open chink, 

 over the coxae, on the prothorax, and the males do not have a mem- 

 brane on the fifth ventral plate. 



(1) BlEDIUS FRACTICORNIS, Er. 



The species standing under this name in our collections in this 

 country is, I think, refiUy the B. fradicornis of Erich son, but it 

 can scarcely be the Staphylimis fraciicornis of Paykull, who says 

 " thorax subtilissime punctatus . . . elHra sul>tilissime punctata 

 . . . pedes fusco-biamnei." Erichson quoted Paykull as the originator 

 of the name, but he does not appear to have seen the specimens in 



