Adrastus. | SERRICORNIA. 105 
known by its shorter and more globose thorax, and the fact that the 
second joint of the antenne is not longer than the third joint; a second 
species has lately been added to our lists by Mr. E. A. Waterhouse. 
I, Antennze entirely clear reddish-yellow; size larger; colour 
lighter . oh TOU E Cie ete swat tae bees Mi eel maa ol PALETTE BAI UT QumEe 
Il. Antenne fuscous or brownish with base light; size smaller ; 
Coldurtdarker Wy 249, omer tee 0 ft ents Oras, Cie uernTE H! 
A. limbatus, F. A small elongate and narrow species with the head 
and thorax deep black, shining, and the elytra brownish-testaceous with 
the suture and sometimes the sides dark; pubescence greyish, rather 
coarse, and not thick; head rather strongly punctured, antenre rather 
long, longer in male than in female, reddish-yellow, or brownish-yellow 
with lighter base, serrate from third joint inclusive; third joint longer than 
second; thorax as long as broad, convex, finely puuctured, with sides 
almost parallel, slightly rounded in front, posterior angles projecting; 
elytra gradually narrowed to apex with rather strongly punctured striae, 
interstices finely punctured; legs reddish yellow, femora often darker. 
L, 4-44 mm. 
Grassy places in woods; by sweeping; rather local, but not uncommon and gene- 
rally distributed in the London, Southern, and Midland districts ; rarer further 
north ; Northumberland and Durham district, not common; Scotland, rare, Solway 
district ; Ireland, Armagh and Dublin, and probably widely distributed. 
A. pusillus, I. Much smaller and darker than the preceding, and 
with the elytra more strongly acuminate; the antennz are fuscous or 
brownish with the base clear reddish-testaceous; the pubescence also 
appears to be thicker; the size and colour will at once distinguish it; 
some specimens are entirely pitchy black with the shoulders alone pale; 
the species has been mixed with the preceding in some collections as a 
small and dark variety. L. 21-3 mm, 
Taken by Mr. E. A. Waterhouse in July by sweeping long coarse grass in open 
ground three or four miles from Sandwich, and also recorded by Mr. C. G. Hall from 
Deal and Dover ; the species is apparently common all over Europe. 
AGRIOTES, [Eschscholtz. 
This genus contains upwards of a hundred species, of which about 
forty occur in Europe; of the remainder a considerable proportion are 
found in Central America, but very few occur south of that country, 
and they range as far north as Siberia ; they are distinguished by having 
the claws simple, and the sides of thorax obtuse, the margin being 
deflexed in front ; the second joint of the antenne is usually longer than 
the third. 
The larva of several of the species of this genus are exceedingly destructive to 
garden and farm crops, and, together with one or two other larvae, belonging to 
other allied genera, constitute the well-known ‘ wire-worms” which are so much 
dreaded by all who have to do with the cultivation of the soil; they have been 
described and figured by many authors, and a long account of them, with beautiful 
