116 Mr. F. Holme on the Hahits, 



appear to arrange themselves into several small natural groups, 

 each consisting of two or three species closely resembling each 

 other in form and colour. The first group comprehends four 

 species, S. crythropterus, S. castanopterus, S. stercorar'ius, S. cericejis : 

 the first of these abounds everywhere ; the others, as far as my 

 own experience goes, are rare. Stephens speaks of St. stercora- 

 r'ms as " common ;" the only locality where I ever found it so was 

 the Look-out Hill, by Weymouth, of which it appeared to have 

 exclusive possession, as I never found either of the others there. 

 In Gloucestershire I have taken only a single specimen : it appears, 

 however, to be pretty generally, though thinly, distributed through- 

 out England. 



Most of the specimens placed in cabinets as St. castanoj)terus 

 are nothing more than highly coloured individuals of erythrop- 

 terus ; the true castanopterus, as may be ascertained by an inspec- 

 tion of Kirby's specimens in the collection of the Entomological 

 Society, is a smaller and slender insect, with the abdomen more 

 gradually attenuated, independent of the aureous scutellum, 

 (which is black in the other,) and other minute distinctions. 

 St. cericeps, judging from my single specimen, stands in the same 

 relation to stercorar'ius which castanopterus bears to erythrojjtertis, 

 being smaller and of a much more slender habit : in my example, 

 also, the femora are black, and the pubescence on the under side 

 of the abdominal segments aureous, that on the upper being duli 

 silvery. 



I believe it is an unnoticed fact that any Coleopterous insect preys 

 on the wing ; but I once observed a specimen of St. crythropterus, 

 which I had taken in my hand on the wing and released, while it 

 flew off in the bright sunshine ; and I distinctly saw it make re- 

 peated darts at the gnats, as it rose in the air in spiral circles : — 

 whether it caught any I could not perceive. 



The three following species, St. chalcocephalus, St. ceneocephalus, 

 St. ceneicollis 1, form a very natural and closely allied group : — 

 they are much more slender, in their general proportions, than 

 those of the preceding section ; and show an affinity, in their 

 shorter and less powerful mandibles, smaller and more rounded 

 heads, indistinct necks, and in the metallic gloss of the head and 

 thorax, with the species standing at the head of the genus 

 Quedius : and their approximation to this and the following genera 

 is still further indicated by the rows of larger punctures on each 

 side the thorax, which are more or less visible in all the three 

 species, and particularly obvious in St, chalcocephalus. As I am 



