106 Ma >"> 



NOTES ON THE GENUS E P U R M A. 



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



So impressed am I with my indebtedness to Canon Fowler's 

 famous work on British Coleoptera that it is almost with a feeling of 

 awe that I suggest altering one of his generally most accurate and 

 useful tables. However, I have the satisfaction of knowing that he 

 approves of the alteration, and I do not take any credit for the new 

 table, as it is only a modification of the one given in Herr Gangl- 

 bauer's " Die Ivafer von Mitteleuropa." I expect we have most of 

 us realized that Fowler's plan of dividing the genus Epurcea by the 

 presence or absence of dark markings on the elytra does not hold 

 good, most of the usually unicolorous forms often being flecked with 

 black, while some of the usually dark species are sometimes quite 

 light. In Ganglbauer's table the main divisions are formed on quite 

 distinct and easily recognised structural characters, and I have had 

 no difficulty in working out all the British members of the genus 

 from it (except E. silacea, Er., which I have not been able to obtain 

 from Herr Reitter). Ganglbauer, like Fowler, divides off E. decem- 

 guttata, F., and E. diffusa, Bris., into the sub-genus Dadophora, 

 Thorns., so I need not include these in the following table, especially 

 as I do not wish to discuss here whether E. diffusa is specifically 

 distinct from E. decemguttafa. I have not followed Ganglbauer's 

 nomenclature, simply because I prefer to call well known species by 

 their old familiar names ; but in the case of E. oblonga, Herbst, of 

 our collections the altering of the name to E. thoracica, Tourn., is 

 not, I think, simply a case of synonymy, this species having been 

 wrongly identified by us. The true E. oblong a is more closely related 

 to E. pmsilla, Er., and Fowler's description of E. oblonga is quite 

 correct for E. thoracica. 



TABLE OF THE BRITISH SPECIES OF EPURMA. 



I. Thorax broadest behind middle of sides, much more narrowed in front than 

 behind, 

 i. Species convex ; middle tibial of S simple. 



1. Club of antennae concolorous, last joint broader than penultimate ... 



E. xstiea, L. 



2. Club of antennae dark, last joint narrower than penultimate. 



A. Size larger, more parallel-sided E. melina, Er. 



B. Size much smaller, sides more rounded E. nana, Reitt. 



ii. Species more or less depressed. 



1. Thorax with anterior margin strongly emarginate. 



