662 On Aquatic Carnivorous Coleoptera or Dytiscidce. 



1032. Dytiscus leander, Rossi. Hydaticus leander, M.C. — Ovalis, rufo-testaceus, 

 vertice nigro, elytris creberrime nigro-irroratis, irrorationibus versus suturatn 

 coalescentibus, pectoie, abdouiine pedibusque posterioribus ferrugineo-obscuris ; 

 tarsis posterioribus robustis, marginibus postice parum longe ciliatis. Long. 11. 

 lat. G ui.m. 



In the male of this species there are no fringing hairs round tlie heel of the front 

 tarsus, and the basal palettes are hardly any larger than the others : the female 

 has no peculiar sexual sculpture. 



This species is often placed in collections among the species of Rhantus ; although 

 it bears a great resemblance to those insects in colour, size, and form, it mny be 

 readily distinguished b}- the ciliation of the postei'ior margins of the hind tarsi. 

 It varies somewhat in size and colour ; in the eastern part of its area, the thorax 

 seems usually to be entirely red, and only a small part of the sutural area of the 

 wing cases is rendered quite black by the coalescence of the dark irrorations ; in the 

 south of Spain the individuals are of smaller size, and the thorax is black at the 

 base in the middle, and the predominance of the black colour over the red on the 

 wing cases is greater ; the difterences are not important and individuals from 

 Corsica are generally intermediate. H. fusciventris, Reiche, (Ann. Fr. 185."', p, 639) 

 from Palestine, is I believe also a variety of D. leander. 



Southern Europe, and Northern and Western Africa ; and Madagascar. (Nice, Corsica, Italy, Egypt, 

 Nubia, Abyssinia, Algeria, Senegal, Portuguese Guinea, Gaboon). 1013. 



1033. Hydaticus ponticus, n. sp. — Ovalis, breviusculus, rufo-testaceus, vertice 

 breviter nigro, elytris creberrime nigro-irroratis vel vermiculatis ; tarsis posterioribus 

 robustis, articulorum ciliis vix longis. Long. 9, lat. .5 m.m. 



The male has the fringing hairs round the heel of the front tarsus rather well 

 developed, the basal palettes though not large, are distinctly larger than the others : 

 the female has short obsolete impressions on the lateral parts of the thorax. 



The species differs from Dytiscus leander by its smaller size and shorter form, 

 and by the developed fringing hairs of the male tarsi; it is also closely allied to H, 

 rhantoides (Xo. 1036), but is considerably shorter in form, and the black irrorations 

 on the elytra are denser and more confluent, and the cilire of the hind margins of 

 the posterior tarsi, cover a very much smaller part of their area. It is still more 

 closely allied to the variety found in India and Ceylon of H. fabricii (.\o. 1035) 

 but it is considerably smaller, shorter in form, the surface is less shining, and the 

 wing cases appear of a much blacker colour, owing to the greater confluence or 

 condensation of the black irrorations. 



Mesopotamia. 1012. 



