1805.] 55 



Varieties occur in the south of Europe with the abdomen and knees 

 more or less sanguineous, and the spots on the hemelytra differing in 

 size and distribution. Burmeister, Signoret, and others are of opinion 

 that these forms are all referable to one and the same species ; and this 

 view of the case is here adopted, as being in the highest degree proba- 

 ble, if we consider the great inconstancy of colour which prevails 

 throughout the family. The southern variety taken by me in Piedmont 

 differs only from the English in being a trifle smaller, in having the 

 abdomen more broadly red, as well as the knees, while the spots on the 

 hemelytra are narrower and shorter ; the hindmost spot is not lunulated 

 as in the British insect, but takes the form of a straight transverse 

 fascia. Structural differences thei'e are none. The species is found 

 rather commonly upon shrubs and trees in woods throughout the 

 southern and central parts of England ; and I have taken it as far 

 northwards as Shropshire.* 



G-en. PTTELUS, Lep. et Serv. 



A section of Aphroplwra, Germ., formed in the Encycl. Meth. to 

 embrace those species in which the sheath of the rostrum is two-jointed, 

 and extends only as far back as the middle coxse. They are further 

 distinguished by wanting the medial longitudinal carina of the vertex 

 and irons, and by having the ocelli more widely separated than the eyes. 

 The size of the largest British species is only 3 lin. {Pt. spumarius, 

 Lin.), while that of the genus ApJirophora is 5 lin. and upwards. We 

 have only three species in this country, as far as is known at present, 

 although a fourth {Ft. campestris, Fall.) may be looked for as very 

 likely to occur, being common in the north of Europe. 



* Vertex dimidia sua inter oculos latitudine longior, pronoto fere 

 longitudine sequalis Ft. lineatus, Lin. 



** Vertex dimidia sua inter oculos latitudine non longior, pronoto 

 triente brevior, 



(1) Eemora postica femoribus inter- 



mediis longiora Pt. exclamationis, Thunb. 



(2) Femora postica femoribus inter- 



mediis breviora Pt. sptimarius, Lin. 



1, — Ptyelus lineatus, Lin. 



Fusco-testaceus, abdomine plus minus nigro. Frons plerumque 

 transversim nigro striata. Vei'ticis, pronoti, marge reflexus, mesoster- 



• Common in Swauscomb and Darenth Woods upon Alder. — Eds 



