106 COLEOPTERA. 



or sub-genus " Threcticiis'' for 0. scutellaris ! Those, in 

 fact, who are acquainted with Thomson's normally disjunc- 

 tive habits will surely think him right whenever (which is 

 seldom enough) he is synthetic. I observe that the original 

 describer of semirufus (Gyllenhal), who does not usually 

 miss structural points, merely says of his insect, " Statura 

 et affinitas R. scutellaris, sed fere duplo minor. ''^ An 

 examination of Mr. Stevens's specimens, one of which 

 accords exactly with Gyllenhal's description in being about 

 half the average size of scutellaris, has convinced me that 

 Thomson is in all probability right in referring semirufus to 

 the latter species, from which they exhibit no structural 

 differences ; they merely have the head and thorax pitchy- 

 black, and the legs darker than usual. 



31. Oechestes ferrugineus, Marsham, Ent. Brit., i, p. 260 

 (1802); H. Brisout, /. c, p. 269 ; E. C. Rye, Ent. Mo. 

 Mag., ii, p. 22o. 

 melanocephalus, Olivier, Entora. Col., v. Gen. 83, p. 100, 

 PI. xxxii, fig. 483 (1807); Walton ; E. C. Rye, /. c, x, 

 p. 18. 



M. Brisout relies wholly on differences of colouration for 

 the separation of this insect from 0. alni, " en compagnie 

 duquel on la trouve aux environs de Paris," the sole struc- 

 tural character mentioned by him being in describing the 

 posterior femora as ^' ut in Orch. alno [!] denticulatis'^ 

 This superficial distinction is weakened by his allowing 

 ferrugineus itself to have four colour- varieties, viz., " I, 

 Colore jjallidiore ; 2, femoribus basi diniidiato-nigris ; 

 3, thorace in medio dorsi, macula transversa fusca ; 4, 

 etiam rostro fere toto 7iigror 0. alni is in like manner 

 described by him (p. 267) as having the first and third of 

 these varieties, in precisely the same words, and another. 



