80 [April, 



A NOTE ON DE. SHARP'S NEW SPECIES OF GABRIUS. 

 BY NORMAN H. JOY, M.R.C.S., F.E.S. 



Knowing that I had been working at Dr. Sharp's most interesting 

 new species of Gabrins, and that Dr. Sharp was too busy discovering 

 additional new forms in other groups, The Rev. W. W. Fowler asked me 

 to make out a table of the Gahrii for a supplement to his " British 

 Coleoptera " shortly to be published. This has been an easier task than 

 one would have at first supposed, and I have been able to draw up a table 

 by which I hope even ? specimens of seven out of the eight species (in- 

 cluding G. trossuhis and G. nigritulus) may be identified. Dr. Sharp 

 kindly looked over my original table, and I have adopted his sug- 

 gestions in the present one. 



Size and colour are not usually good characters on which to base 

 the main divisions of a table, but they seem to be remarkably con- 

 stant in this group. The colour of the legs varies very little, but that 

 of the base of the antennce and palpi does so rather more, the species 

 with light coloured legs having these parts sometimes considerably 

 darker. The three species, G. velox, G. penmatus, and G. appendicu- 

 latus are distinctly smaller than the others, and can as a rule be at 

 once distinguished from them by this character alone. G. nigritulus 

 is the largest species ; G. hishopi is hardly so large as the remaining 

 three, Imt is obviously larger than G. pennatus. The punctuation of 

 the elytra varies a good deal in each individual species, and is of little 

 help for identification purposes. 



The following table should be used in conjunction with the short 

 descriptions given below : — 



I. Elytra shorter and scarcely broader than thorax ; legs testaceous... 



G. trossuhis, Nordm. 



II. Elytra longer and broader than thorax. 



i. Penultimate joints of antennas strongly transverse, first joint black ; 

 head very broad ; femora dirty testaceous, tibise pitchy... 



G. stipes, Sharp. 



ii. Penultimate joints of antennse not strongly transverse. 



1. Legs testaceous, tibiae at most a little dai'ker ; first two joints of 

 antennse and palpi testaceoiis or pitchy -testaceous ; elytra gene- 

 rally brownish. 



A. Size larger ; form broader ; head even in ? scarcely longer 



than broad Q. nigritulus, Grav. 



B. Size smaller ; form narrower ; head in <J distinctly longer than 



broad. 

 a. Form slightly longer in proportion to width ; sedeagus 



exposed in ,J G. velox, Shai-p. 



h. Form shorter in proportion to width ; sedeagus not exposed 



in g G. pennatus. Sharp. 



