Maimers, Sfc. of some of the British Brachelytra. 121 



as I have often found ants carrying off the mutilated bodies of 

 small Aphodil, nearly or quite severed, at the junction of the 

 thorax and elytra, as if by the bite of Ph. splendens, or some one 

 of the larger species, but otherwise untouched. The mention of 

 ants in this place recalls to my mind a curious scene which I wit- 

 nessed in the summer of 1833, near Sydenham, in Devonshire : a 

 number of the large horse-ant, (I do not know the scientific name,) 

 common in the west of England, were passing along the top bar 

 of a gate, and in the midst of the procession appeared two or 

 three ants carrying between them a living Ph'dontlius poUtus, 

 whose struggles for liberty appeared utterly fruitless ; for what 

 purpose he was thus secured, or how the ants had succeeded in 

 capturing an insect so well provided with means both of defence 

 and escape, 1 had no means of ascertaining. 



Some of the PhilotHhi are variegated with lively colours on the 

 elytra, and nearly all the species are distinguished by the brilliant 

 metallic polish of the head and thorax : they are active and lively 

 insects, running with great rapidity, and flying well, mostly in 

 sunshine. Some of the pilose species are infested by Acari. They 

 all appear to be gregarious, and the different species are found 

 together : the larvag are equally predacious with the parent insects, 

 which they greatly resemble in general form : that of Pli. politus 

 has been figured by Mr. Westwood, in the Zool. Journal, vol. iii. 

 pi. 2. 



The two first species. Ph. lam'matus and Ph. ceneits, are con- 

 sidered by Mr. Stephens to be probably the two sexes of the same 

 species ; the only difference I have been able to detect is that 

 Ph. ceneus is usually a trifle larger, and wants the prolongation, 

 observable in the other, of the ante-penultimate abdominal seg- 

 ment : — Ph. chalceus is also placed within brackets in the " Syste- 

 matic Catalogue" as a possible variety of the same species ; but 

 this I think is distinct : though nowhere common, I have taken it 

 in Gloucestershire, Lancashire, and Cornwall. It is a smaller and 

 more compact looking insect than the other, with the thorax 

 rather more convex, and the sides of the head and thorax rounder ; 

 and, when alive, the head and thorax show a rich rosy-copper 

 gloss, not observable in the other. 



I have a variety of Ph. splendens in which the head and thorax 

 are glossed with rich steel blue instead of copper, and another in 

 which the disk of the elytra is piceo-ferruginous, probably from 

 injury in the pupa, as the insect appears fully mature. The 

 number of thoracic punctures also in each series, on which Mr. 

 Stephens has founded his sub-divisions ofthe genus, sometimes varies 



