﻿54i BRITISH BEETLES. 



wet places, such as reedy spots on canal banks, etc., 

 near London. 



The palm of beauty must, however, be conceded to 

 Callistus, — as its name implies, " the fairest of the 

 fair." Our single species, C. lunatus, is about a quarter 

 of an inch long ; its head metallic, bluish or greenish- 

 black ; its thorax heart-shaped, orange-red; its elytra 

 oval, oriange-yellow (when alive, rose-pink), with a 

 shoulder spot and two transverse bands deep black ; its 

 legs are yellow tipped with black, and the entire insect 

 has a delicate velvety appearance (Plate II, Fig. 1). It 

 frequents chalky districts, and may sometimes be found 

 under stones on the downs near Croydon. Under simi- 

 lar circumstances at Box Hill, and on the south-coast 

 downs, the species of Licinus may be taken. One of 

 them was, I believe, at first only known to be a Brit- 

 ish species from a single specimen having been caught in 

 Cheapside, whither it must have had a long flight from 

 its chalky haunts. This insect, L. silphoides (Plate I, 

 Fig. 6), superficially resembles certain members of the 

 genus Silpha in the Necrojjhaga : from which the be- 

 ginner may distinguish it by its long slender antennae, — 

 those organs in Silpha being short, with an abrupt knob 

 at the tip. It is about half an inch in length ; broad, 

 flat, deep dull-black in hue, and distinctly wrinkled, 

 punctured and striated. The two basal joints of the fi'ont 

 tarsi in the male are very strongly and widely dilated. 



Loricera, a small bronze-coloured insect, is remark- 

 able for its antennse being adorned with long stiff" hairs ; 

 the Panagm have red elytra, marked ^Aith a large black 

 cross ; and the species of Badister, found usually in the 

 cracks of wet mud or clay banks, are recognizable by the 

 rounded front of their heads. 



