159 



whitish at its extreme base ; the penultimate black, but whitish at the 

 apex, and rufo-testaceous at the base. Thoi*ax black beneath ; legs 

 and anterior coxae yellow. 



The sixth segment of the abdomen in the male is truncate beneath, 

 and rounded in the female. 



Eatlier common in fungi, in the autumn, and generally distributed 

 throughout the country. AVhen alive, this insect presents a beautiful 

 appearance, owing to its contrast of colour. 



6. — TEiNOTATUS, Erichson. loc. cit., 279, 19. 



Smaller than atricapillus, and varying somewhat in size. Fusiform, 

 testaceous, shining. Head black ; mouth, palpi, and four basal joints 

 of antennae testaceous, the remainder pitchy-brown. Thorax rufo- 

 testaceous. Elytra much longer than the thorax, with a pitchy-black 

 suffused spot, commencing at the shoulder, and reaching to the suture, 

 forming a triangular scutellar patch. This spot is of all sizes, dimi- 

 nishing from the above condition to a mere dark streak on each side of 

 the Bcutellum, but always present. 



There is also a large, suffused, pitchy -black spot, inside the whole 

 outer apical angle of each elytron, not reaching quite to the suture, and 

 leaving the margins testaceous. 



The punctuations in the sutural striae are about eight in number, 

 of which the first and last pairs are faintly or indistinctly impressed. 



The abdomen is reddish-testaceous, w^ith the base of the segments 

 sometimes inclined to pitchy, very sparingly punctured, the punctures 

 being stronger and more frequent at the base of the segments. 



In the male the sixth segment beneath is obsoletely impressed 

 longitudinally. 



The colours in this and the two next species fade considerably 

 after death. All three are very abundant in fungi, during the autumn, 

 throughout the country ; and may often be seen on the collecting 

 paper, scampering away rapidly, out of one and the same fungus. 



The species may generally be separated easily by the number of 

 punctures in the sutural striae, and (in the case of pygmcsus) by the 

 punctuation of the abdomen. 



7. — EXOLETUS, Erichs., loc. cit., 280, 20. 



The largest examples of this species are rather smaller than 

 ordinary specimens of trinotatus, and the smallest are not larger than 

 Tachyporus chrysomelinus. Very like trinotatus in colour and build 



