Sciitembev, 1873.] ^J^ 



DESCEIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF DROMIUS FROM ENGLAND. 



BY E. C. KTE. 

 DrOMIUS VECTE]S'SIS, Sp. 11. 



sigma, var., Dawson, Greod. Brit. p. 11 (aud v. ? oblifns, Rye, 



Cat. Brit. Col.). 

 ohlitiis, Crotch, Cat. Brit. Col., and Sharp, Cat. Brit. Col. 



(nee Boieldieu). 



Testaceus, capite nigro cum thorace minut'issime co?'iaceis, nifid iusctiJ is, latiori- 

 bus, hoc disco scepius picescenti, elytris pallidis, fascia, communi lata dentatd, 

 nigro-2yiced, antice scidellmn versus posticeque fere ad apicem externa/in productd, 

 niaculisqtie duahiis apicalibus parvis pallidis ad siduram notatis ; abdomine plus 

 minusve piceo. Long. eorp. 1^ lin. 



Habitat in Anrjlici meridionali, ac ijrcecipiie insula Vectis : species 

 litoralis. 



Closely allied to Z). sigma, Rossi, but more robust, with shorter 

 and stouter antennae, rather more prominent eyes, a wider head and 

 more transverse thorax (both of which are not so shining, being very 

 minutely coriaceous), and wider and comparatively shorter elytra, of 

 which the lateral outline is less straight. The indented transverse 

 fascia on the elytra is always wider, nearly always reaching more 

 broadly up the suture towards the scutellum, so as to leave a pale 

 humeral marking of less area, and invariably extending downwards on 

 the outer side almost (if not quite) to the apex, leaving only a small 

 pale spot on each elytron at the apex next the suture. The thorax is 

 very fi-equently pitchy on the disc ; and, in specimens exhibiting that 

 colouration, the abdomen is also more or less pitchy. 



This insect has been taken on the banks of the Medway at 

 Chatham, of the Thames at Gravesend and Sheerness, and in other 

 parts of the south of England, usually on or near the coast, but is es- 

 pecially found in the Isle of Wight ; whereas sigma chiefly occurs in 

 the Cambridgeshire fens, and is apparently not of shore-frequenting 

 habits. 



Dawson has noticed the differences in mai-king, but not the struc- 

 tural peculiarities of this insect, which he considered to be a local 

 variety of D. sigma. 



The Dromiiis ellip)tipennis of Wollaston (Cat. Can. Col., p. 12), 

 from Teneriffe, Gromera, and Hierro, where also the true D. sigma 

 occurs, is closely allied to D. vectensis, having a broader transverse 

 fascia, and being of broader and more robust build thaxi I), sigma ; 

 but in it the fascia is not developed towards the apex, 1)ut upwai-ds, 

 in fully coloiu'cd t»pecimens almost joining a woll-niarkcd scutellar 



