﻿GEODEPHAGA. 49 



until some numbers were taken in moss at Holme Bush, 

 near the Devil's Dyke, Brighton. It is about a quarter 

 of an inch long, with the thorax, legs, l)ase of antennae 

 and the elytra (which are broad) orange-red, and the 

 head and a broad cruciform mark on the wing-cases 

 black (Plate I, Fig. 2). 



Another allied species, L. chlorocephala, is not uncom- 

 mon about the broom-plant at times ; it is rather smaller 

 than crux-minor, and has brilliant blue or green elytra 

 and head, the thorax and legs being red. The Dromii, 

 small, elongate, flattened beetles, often ornamented with 

 four white spots, are found mostly under — or in the 

 chinks of — bark, where they subsist upon other sub- 

 cortical insects. 



Odacantha melanura, a narrow, cylindrical species, 

 with head and thorax bluish-green, and reddish elytra 

 and legs (the apex of the former, and joints and feet of 

 the latter, being blue-black), is found in the stems of 

 reeds in the Cambridgeshire fens and elsewhere ; Drypta 

 dentata, occasionally taken in some numbers out of clay- 

 banks at Alverstoke, Hants, is conspicuous for its lovely, 

 silky, azure clothing, and the very long basal joint of 

 its antennae ; and Lionychus quadrillum, an obscure little 

 bronze-black insect, with two dull lighter-coloured spots 

 on each wing-case, is noteworthy from its haunting wet 

 shingle and stones on the coast, in Devonshire and at 

 Southend. 



The species most likely to have been seen by casual 

 observers is the tiny Blechrus maurus, which may be 

 noticed darting rapidly over sun-dried pathways, remind- 

 ing one of an animated grain of gunpowder; and the 

 one which has made most noise in the world is the 

 ' Bombardier/ Brachinus crepitans, a moderately small 



