well with any of the other Harpali of Latreille, I have little 

 doubt, as I proceed with the other groups of that extensive 

 family, I shall be able to show clearly that the trophi are 

 sufficiently different to warrant forming them into a distmct 

 genus. 



l^he individuals which Omaseus comprises found in this 

 country are O. aterrimus figured in the plate (which is a male, 

 and drawn rather larger than life) ; H, orinomum of Leach, 

 taken in Scotland and Ireland; and C nigrita Fab., which 

 is the C. aterrimus of Entomologia Britannica : it is to be found 

 under the bark and at the roots of trees, and is common every 

 where ; but our insect, the true O. aterrimus of Fab., was un- 

 known! as an inhabitant of this island until it was discovered 

 ill Norfolk by my lamented friend the late Joseph Hooker, Esq. 

 of Norwich. Mr. Sparshall afterwards found a specimen at 

 Horning in the same county, which had just settled upon a plant 

 in the marshes, the wings being at the time unfolded ; and in 

 January 1822 he was so obliging as to take me to the same 

 neighbourhood, where I had the pleasure of finding 2 spe- 

 cimens secreted in crevices in the bark of pollard willows by 

 the side of the river : they did not appear to be much affected 

 by the cold at the time, although the tranquil waters which 

 covered the surrounding ronntry were frozen over; for one of 

 them made its escape, and Iklliiig into the river, which had 

 overflov/ed its banks, it sunk, and must have attached itself to 

 the grass at the bottom, for after the most diligent search we 

 could not find it : at the end of November in the same year 

 we went again, when we found a considerable number appa- 

 rently in their natural habitation, the decayed stumps of trees 

 that had been cut down by the sides of ditches which frequently 

 overflowed them : we dug many out of the trees, so completely 

 enveloped that it is difficult to imagine how they could have 

 got there, unless they had resided in the wood in the larva 

 state : it is evidently a very local species, attached to damp 

 situations, and able in warm weather to fly with celerity. 

 Mr. Stephens has also had several sent from Ireland, which 

 came safe to him in a letter by the mail ; they were said to 

 have been taken in an ants nest, the inhabitants of which 

 they probably devour, as the Carabidae live upon other insects, 

 and will even destroy their own species. 



Peziza aurantia of Persoon (Orange Spread-cup) being 

 found at the roots of decayed trees, it accompanies the insect 

 in the plate. 



