50 [August, 



of this group, B. crassicoUis and B. erraiicus. B. dissimilis may be at once known i 

 from the latter by the much coarser punctuation of the thorax, and from the former 

 by having the elytra longer than the thoi'as, and by the fact that the posterior 

 angles of the latter are moi'e rounded ; in all the specimens that I have taken the elytra 

 are yellowish or testaceous, with a slight red tinge, with the suture more or less 

 broadly dark ; occasionally the dark colour covers nearly the whole of the elytra : 

 this appears to be the v. nigricans, Er. ; the chief distinguishing character, how- 

 ever, lies in the two long spines which are situated at each side of the 6th ventral 

 segment of the hiud-body of the male, and which are plainly visible from above ; 

 they are slender and curved at apes, and are very conspicuous ; in B. erraticus they 

 are entirely absent, and in B. crassicoUis take the form of short teeth ; B. dissimilis 

 appears to be most nearly related to B. cribricollis, a species not hitherto found in 

 Britain, but which is common in the northern provinces of France ; it differs, how- 

 ever, from the latter species in its less red elytra, the suture of which is more 

 broadly darker, in its more closely punctured thorax, of which the interstices are 

 not quite so smooth, and in its shorter antennse, of which the penultimate joints are 

 more transverse. Length, 3| mm. 



As long ago as 1878, soon after I commenced collecting, I took 

 two or three specimens of this species at Bridlington, Yorkshire, 

 which were named for me as B. erraticus ; in 18S4, I found the 

 species in the same locality in large numbers, and discovered that it 

 certainly was not B. erraticus, nor did it agree with B. crassicoUis. 

 I afterwards determined it from Mulsant and Eey's " Brevipennes " as 

 B. dissimilis, and a specimen I sent to M. Fauvel w^as also returned 

 to me by him with this name ; the only point that seemed doubtful 

 was the fact that the long spines in the male are represented by 

 Mulsant and Eey as curving outwards, whereas in my specimens they 

 are larger than in their figure, and curved inwards ; in all other points, 

 however, the insect quite agrees v/ith their description. The species 

 occurs in great numbers at Bridlington, where its casts may be found 

 on the sides nf the dark clay cliffs, from their tops nearly to the 

 shore line ; it is never found in the sand with B. arenarius, which is 

 also very abundant. Together with the perfect insect I found the 

 larvge and pupje, the latter in little cells with polished sides formed in 

 the clay ; I know of no other British locality but Bridlington for this 

 insect, and it is strange that it has not been recorded before : others of 

 the rarer Bledii, such as B. crassicoUis, have been found in only one or 

 two localities, and in these in some numbers, so that it is most probable 

 we shall find other species in Britain, such as B. cribricoUis, &c. 



Btthinus talidus, Aube. 

 Very like B. puncticolUs, but distinguished by the characters of the male, 

 which has the first joint of the antennae slightly shorter, and without a dentiform 

 appendage at apex, the femora strongly thickened, and the tibiae robust, the posterior 



