200 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the clypeus is quadrangular, extending nearly to the top, and 

 perhaps a litlle contracted above ; in the female it is in the 

 form of a truncate triangle, extending nearly half-way up. 

 In the male of N. gallicus it is also quadrangular, but in the 

 few specimens I have seen it is not so much contracted 

 above. In the single specimen which I have met with of 

 what I suppose to be the female of this insect, it is of nearly 

 the same form as in female interruptus, but does not extend 

 so high up. Again, the thorax of N. gallicus is somewhat 

 wider in front; the tarsi of the male are more strongly di- 

 lated, and, in the same sex more especially, the portion of 

 the vertex which lies behind the eye is much more consider- 

 able ; the insect, too, appears to be generally larger and 

 stouter than N. interruptus. It will be observed that these 

 latter differences are the reverse of those which exist be- 

 tween N. ruspator and N. microcephalus. The only speci- 

 mens I have been able to recognize are — one male in my 

 own collection, singularly enough taken at Ditchingham, in 

 Norfolk, out of the same egg from which I got my specimen 

 of N. germanicus ; one male in Mr. Newman's collection ; 

 and in the Stephensian collection at the British Museum one 

 male, and what I suppose to be a female of this species, but 

 these are both of smaller size. N. interruptus is by no means 

 a common species : 1 have taken it at Darenth, Wimbledon, 

 the Holt Forest, &c., &c. 



I have examined a very considerable number of banded 

 Necrophori from various quarters, with the object of de- 

 termining these species, but, as I have shown, have not been 

 able to find many examples of them. I have no doubt, how- 

 ever, that they will now be detected, mixed up with the 

 others, in various collections. 



I think that from the preceding observations it will be 

 manifest that we do possess the two species separated by 

 IMM. Thomson and Duval ; but whether they are good ones 

 or not is an open question. I am inclined to think that N. 

 microcephalus will hold good, for I have seen very many 

 specimens of N. ruspator, and find nothing decidedly inter- 

 mediate. N. interruptus seems to be comparatively rare, and 

 I have not had anything like the same means of comparison, 

 and therefore cannot speak with the same confidence as to 

 N. gallicus. 



