NEW BRITISH SPECIES, ETC., IN 1863. 51 



he formerly confoiiuded with M, lepidas, Grav., through 

 the bad condition of his old specimens when originally de- 

 termining the Mijceto])ori for his Catalogue. It is common 

 in the London district, especially in gravel and sand-pits 

 during the spring. 



It differs from 31. lepidus in having the sides of the body 

 less parallel, the thorax being broader behind, with the elytra 

 still broader, and the abdomen more attenuated ; the an- 

 tennae and leo;s are also rather lono;er. It may also be at 

 once (as far as our experience goes) separated by its colour, 

 its head and thorax being shiny black and elytra bright red ; 

 this combination seems never to occur in lepidus, which 

 vaj-ies from uniformly rufous to pitchy black, and the speci- 

 mens nearest to longulus in coloration are pitchy, with the 

 elytra more or less rufous at the base. 



Both these species have two oblique punctures on the 

 sides of the disc of the thorax, lepidus sometimes having 

 three or four. 



M. lonfjidas also resembles small specimens of 31. splen- 

 dens, being (with the exception of the pale legs and basal 

 joint of the antennae) exactly like that species in colour; it is 

 however narrow^er and not so fusiform, with the antennae 

 longer and less stout ; the four penultimate joints being less 

 strongly transverse ; the abdomen also is more thickly punc- 

 tured, not so deep black, and with the edges of the segments 

 always more or less rufo-piceous. 



31. splendens also has no oblique punctures on the sides 

 of the thorax. 



By a cuj'ious error Mr. Waterhouse (loc. cit.) is made to 

 refer Ischnopoda melanura of Stephens as a synonym of 

 this species; the name should of course have been Ischno- 

 soma melanura. 



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