322 [December, 



P. halophihts is far from being a novelty in Britain ; it is, in fact, 

 the basis of the '' melanocephahii<'' of iny own collection, and probably 

 of others. I first met with it in the salt marshes at Eainham in Kent, 

 in February, 1867 ; shortly afterwards specimens were given to me by 

 Dr. Power as " nigricans," and labelled by me " nigricans J. A. P., 

 ? nov. spec, melanocephalns var. ? ? " These examples still bear 

 Dr. Power's registration mark, viz., " 66,26," and specimens corres- 

 ponding with them probably exist in the Power collection at the 

 British Museum. Recently, the species has been found by Mr. C. J. 

 C. Pool, rather freely at Southsea. 



P. halophihis has but little resemblance to maritimus being of 

 different shape, coloration, and sculptuie. The head with the labrum 

 is black, but the clypeus has a yellow mark on each side, and in the 

 male this becomes more extensive so that the front of the clypeus is 

 entirely yellow, though in specimens that have suffered some decom- 

 position the yellow coloration may be much obscured. The palpi are 

 entirely yellow. The dorsal blade of the median lobe of the aedeagus 

 is shorter than it is in maritimus. 



P. MELANOCEPHAIiUS. 



This name must, so far as I know, disappear entirely from our 

 catalogue ; the remarks I made about it last year applying to P. halo- 

 philus. The specimen I there recorded from Horning is probably 

 another species. The synonymy of the name melanocephalus is so com- 

 plicated and doubtful that we may congratulate ourselves on losing it 

 altogether. Bedel uses the name for Enochrus hicolor ; and it is possi- 

 ble that Olivier's figure of melanocepJialus may refer to that species, 

 but I think it better to drop the name melanocephalvs altogether 

 rather than that of hicolor. 



Our old melanocephalus has been supposed to be a synonym of 

 quadripunctatus Herbst ; but we have nothing that agrees with the 

 descriptions of that form, so the name should not appear in our lists 

 at present. 



P. sp. ? 



The example from Horning I referred to under melanocephalus 

 last year may probably prove to be a new species, especially as it seems 

 highly probable that halophihis is a salt-marsh insect. Unfortunately 

 the specimen is a female ; it greatly resembles P. fusciperinis, but the 

 palpi are entirely yellow. 



