144 ADEPiiAGA. \_Dromius. 



Rare ; confined to fens and marshy places ; formerly taken in numbers with D. 

 longiceps iu the sed^e boats on the Cum, and Whittlesea Mere ; Rusper, near Hor- 

 sham ; VVesterham, Kent (Gorham) ; Dorking; Staines; Amberley ; Egham (banks 

 of Thames, Champion); Scarborough (R. Lawsoa) and Askham Bryan, Yorks; 

 Dawson records it from North Wales and Carlisle. 



Dk vectensis, Eye. (sir/ma var., Dawson and others). Fig. with 

 elytra of D. sigma, Ent. Ann. 1874, Front. Closely allied to the 

 preceding, but more robust and wider generally ; antennae shorter and 

 stouter ; thorax somewhat more transverse ; elytra wider and compara- 

 tively shorter with the sides less parallel ; the transverse band on the 

 elytra is always wider, nearly always reaching more broadly up the suture 

 towards the scutellura, so as to leave a lesser testaceous space at 

 shoulders, and invariably extending downwards on the outer side, 

 almost (if not quite) to apex, leaving only a small pale spot on each 

 next suture, instead of a broad patch as in sigma ; thorax often pitchy on 

 disc, abdomen more or less pitchy. L. 3 mm. 



Usually occurs on sandy coasts and banks of rivers, but is also found under bark 

 and in dead leaves, flood refuse, &c. ; banks of the Medway at Chatham ; banks of the 

 Thames, Gravesend and Sheeruess; Rochester; Bexley ; Forest Hill; Weymouth; 

 Isle of Wight (Luccombe, Ventnor, Sandown, amidst stones and herbage on the sides 

 of the clifls) ; Seaton (Power): in habitat as well as structure and colouration it 

 differs considerably from D. sigma ; in some respects it comes near D. nigriventris, 

 but the latter is distinguished by its slighter build, and much less defined and very 

 variable dark fascia on the elytra. 



This species is the D. ohlitus of Crotch's Cat. Brit. Col., and also of 

 Sharp's Cat. Brit. Col. (1st Edition), but it 'is not the D. ohlitus of 

 Boieldien, which must be referred to D. 7iigriventns. (Vide Eut. Mo. 

 Mag. X. 73.) 



BIiSCHRUS, Motschulsky. 



This genus comes very close to Metahletus ; it is chiefly distinguished 

 from it by the fact that the species have no tooth in the emargination of 

 the mentum, whereas the species of Mdahletiis have the emargination 

 plainly denticulate : the differences, however, are rather speciiic than 

 eeneric, and several authors include Blechrus under Metahletus ; in the 

 genus Blechrus proper there are some sixteen or seventeen sj^ecies which 

 are rather widely distributed, being found in Europe, North Asia, North 

 America, Egypt, Algeria, Madeira, and Cuba : they are small shining 

 insects, and run with great rapidity in the sunshine on the sides of 

 clayey or sandy cliffs, and on grassy paths, usually near the coast. 



S. maurus, Sturm (glahratus, WolL, nee Duft.). Dark bronze 

 black, very shining ; head large, smooth ; thorax with the anterior 

 margin about as broad as head with eyes, narrowed from behind aiiterior 

 angles to base, posterior angles blunt, almost obsolete, but distinctly 

 traceable uiider a high magnifying power ; elytra depressed, glabrous, 

 with the shoulders rather marked, abbreviated behind and leaving the 

 apical portion of the abdomen uncovered ; antennae, palpi, and legs 

 black, the latter sometimes pitchy. L. 2| mm. 



