1870] 175 



NOTES ON BRITISH COLJSOPTERA, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TUREE 



NEW SPECIES. 



BX E. C. RYE, F.Z.S. 

 IIXDROPORrS ASSIMILIS, Pajk. 



I am indebted to Mr. Horace Francis, of Lee, for (J and ? of a 

 variety of this insect, taken by him at Keswick, Cumberland. They 

 differ from the ordinary form in being rather smaller, with only the 

 tip of the apical joint of the antennae dark, and in having in the ? 

 the faintest possible indication of the ordinary two basal thoracic dark 

 spots, which in the ^ are entirely absent. - Mr. Francis informs me, 

 that of thirty-six specimens taken at Keswick, nine have no spots on 

 the thorax, sixteen have them indistinct, one has thorn united, and the 

 remainder have them separate and well marked. In about half the 

 number, the extreme tip only of the antennae is dark. Neither Aube, 

 Schaum, or Thomson notice any variation in the thoracic marking. 

 The 6th elytral black stripe in the above mentioned ^ is much ab- 

 breviated ; but all the stripes vary much in length and width in this 

 species, — I have one specimen in which the whole elytra are suffused 

 with black, leaving faint traces of discal yellow lines, and a thin 

 border of yellow, expanding above and below the middle of the sides 

 into a larger light spot. 



ALEOCn.lEA niBEENICA, sp. n. 



Linearis, nifjro-picea, pedibus, antenoiarumque ai'/icuiis quafuor 

 hasalihus, testaccis ; capite niticlo, sat evidenter hand crebre puncfulato, 

 fhorace convexiitsculo, quam capnt crebrius puncfulato, basi obsolete 

 foveolato ; elt/tris lioc fere longioribus, fortius at minus crebre punctu- 

 latis ; abdomine nitido, stqyra sat crebre punct at o, apice lesviusculo. 



Long. \\ tin. (Anglic). 



Of the size, and somewhat of the build, of Uomalota cambrica, 

 "WoU. {velox, Ktz.), but darker, more convex, elongate, and shining, 

 less closely punctured, with shorter antennae, <fcc. Closely allied, 

 according to M. Chas. Brisout, to Aleochara nigrata, Fairm., from 

 which it differs in its finer and closer punctuation, and lighter femora. 

 It cannot satisfactorily be compared with any British species, owing to 

 its linear shape, feeble punctuation, and very small size ; in the latter 

 respect, however, it is about equalled by the smallest A. nitida in my 

 possession. The facies, in fact, is not that of an Aleochara at all, 

 the antennae being gradually and very slightly widened towards the 

 apex, and there being the reverse to a tendency to the fusiform shape. 

 The anterior tarsi are, however, o-jijinted. 



