NEW BRITISH SPECIES, ETC., IN 1873. 83 



of 1872, at Scarborough, near which town, however, the 

 typical form has been taken by the same gentleman in some 

 numbers out of moss. There is also another Yorkshire 

 specimen in the collection of the Marquis of Ripon. 



I have (/. c.) discussed the opinions of various authors 

 upon this insect, of which Mr. Lawson has apparently taken 

 more than all other collectors put together; and the impres- 

 sion upon my mind still remains that it cannot be considered 

 specifically distinct from cruentata, a modification of habit 

 in which has apparently caused a curtailment of its elytra, 

 resulting in an apparently different scheme of punctuation, 

 due, in my opinion, to the necessary abbreviation of that 

 portion which in cruejitata proper is most regularly punc- 

 tured. But, if I be correct in this view, the contemporaneous 

 existence of stem-form and branch in the same neighbour- 

 hood is much more interesting than the addition to our 

 Fauna of another species, however well-marked. 



I am corroborated in my opinion as to the relations of 

 A. ferrugiriea and cruentata, by observing that a British 

 example of A. rufa^ Grav., given me by the Rev. T. A. 

 Marshall, occupies an analogous position with regard to 

 A. erenata (of which it is universally recognized as a colour- 

 variety), its elytra being shorter and less regularly punctate- 

 striate. 



10. HOMALIUM TESTACEUM, Er. ; Eut. Aun. 1864, p. 63 ; 

 Fauvel, Faune Gallo-Rhenane, iii, p. 67. 

 I have never until the past autumn seen a British example 

 of this species, of which (as indigenous) I was only aware of 

 the three specimens taken by Mr. Matthews 11 years ago 

 in Leicestershire. A specimen observed by myself among 

 some insects belonging to Mr. G. C. Champion (to whom it 

 was given by Mr. R. E. Bull, who took it in the London 



g2 



