.310 On Aquatic Carnivorous Coleoptera or Dytiscidce. 



medio infuscato, elytris nigro-suffiisis, lateribus, fascia obliqua basaii alteraque 

 ultra medium ad suturam interruptis, testaceis ; antennis extrorsum infuscatis. 

 Long. 4, lat. 2| m.m. 



The marks of the elytra vary somewhat in this species, the pale marks on them 

 being sometimes much reduced ; when the undulated dark marks are very 

 confluent it is only by opening the elytra that the undulated yellow spaces 

 separating them can be traced. The male has the front and middle tarsi a good 

 deal incrassate, and the last ventral segment is much produced in the middle ; and 

 in the female the form of tliis part differs comparatively little from the other 

 sex. 



Europe ; Coraica. Not common, imd in tlie Xorth altogether wanting ; extends to the Soutli of 

 England. 578. 



156. Laccophilus flexuosus, Aube. M.C. — Ovalis, minus latus et convexus, 

 nitidus, testaceus, prothorace anterius et posterius in medio brevissime infuscato ; 

 elytris lineis flexuosis duplicatis minus confluentibus, ad basin ct ultra medium 

 plus minusve interruptis nigris. Long. 4, lat. 2i m.m. 



This species is closely allied to Dytiscus variegatus. Germ. (No. 155), but is a 

 little larger, and the dark colours of the upper surface are less extensive so that 

 the lines on the elytra are more distinctly separated : these marks are however 

 variable, being sometimes so much reduced that the elytra ajipear pale ; generally 

 there are pale marks left at the base and before the apex similar to those of 

 Dytiscus variegatus, but in some specimens the dark lines are very little interrupted, 

 and then the pale spots alluded to are correspondingly reduced : the under surface 

 is nearly always pale, but occasionally the breast and ventral segments are infuscate. 

 The male has the front and middle tarsi a good deal incrassate, and the apical 

 ventral segment is but little produced in the middle. In the female this segment 

 is produced in the middle, and oblique, and a little sinuate on each side : but in this 

 sex the sexual characters are instable, sometimes the form of this segment is 

 different on the two sides, the sinuation being then very deep on the right side, 

 while the left remains as usual ; the structure of the epipleurte of the elytra is 

 subject to much variation in this sex, for in some individuals the inflexed portion 

 of the wingcase becomes broader before the apex, and is then deeply impressed, 

 while in other individuals, it does not depart from the form that exists in the male. 

 The variation of the epipleurse appears to occur throughout all the area in which 

 the species is found ; but the females with the peculiar unsymmetrical last ventral 

 segment, I have only found to occur in the western part of the area of distribution. 



Widely distributed in Asia, from Mesopotamia to Japan : Persia, Northern India, Sumatra, Hong 

 Kong, Formosa. 579. 



