Niptus.] SERRICORNIA. 183 
ago this insect used to be somewhat of a rarity, and was confined to towns, but it has 
gradually spread and established itself even in the remotest country villages. 
N. crenatus, F. (minutus, Ill. ; Tipnus crenatus, Thoms.).. Of a 
dark brown colour, moderately thickly clothed with greyish pubescence ; 
antenne rather short ; thorax as long as broad, roundish quadrangular, 
with a more or less distinct longitudinal central furrow ; scutellum 
indistinct; elytra much broader than thorax, strongly convex, narrowed 
to base, with strongly crenate striz, interstices slightly elevated ; legs 
rather short, with the femora scarcely clavate at apex, tarsi short.  L. 
2-3 mm. 
In old wood, &c. ; occasionally found in birds’ nests and about houses; local, and 
as a rule not common; London; Suffolk; Glanvilles Wootton; Devon ; Swansea ; 
Birmingham district ; Repton ; Lincoln; Scarborough ; Pendleton, near Manchester, 
in bakehouses; Northumberland and Durham district; Scotland, in old houses, 
Solway, Forth, Tay, Dee, and Moray districts; Ireland, Armagh and Dublin. 
HEDOBIA, Sturm. 
This genus contains about eight species from Europe, Algeria, the 
Isle of France, and Mexico; they are, in spite of their small size, very 
striking and handsome insects, by reason of their distinct markings ; 
Dr. Horn includes Hedobia and Hucrada under a separate tribe, 
Eucradini, which he separates from the Ptinini on the grounds that the 
antenne are widely separated at base, and that the elytra are always 
cylindrical and do not embrace the flanks; one of the chief characters, 
however, of Hedobia les in the very short and broad fifth joint of the 
tarsi; Reitter and others consider Hedobia to be quite distinct from the 
Ptinide, and in the catalogue of Heyden, Reitter, and Weise it is placed 
after Anobiwm and Hrnobius with Ptilinus and Ochina, a position which 
in some respects seems certainly a reasonable one. ‘There are five 
European species, of which one only occurs in Britain. 
H. imperialis, L. Oblong, of a dark chocolate-brown colour, 
clothed with whitish squamose pubescence; head rather long, strongly 
pubescent, with eyes somewhat prominent, antenne ferruginous, long 
and rather robust, feebly serrate; thorax very much narrower than 
elytra, somewhat constricted in front, with a patch of white pubescence 
on each side behind middle; scutellum distinct, quadrangular ; elytra 
closely and somewhat rugosely punctured, with the apex, shoulders, a 
large patch at base narrowing triangularly to suture, the suture itself, 
and a white spot on each side behind middle clothed with whitish 
pubescence; these markings are somewhat variable, and often more or 
less confluent; the shoulders are square and well marked; legs ferru- 
ginous, last joint of tarsi very short and broad, L. 4-55 mm. 
In old hedges, &e. ; occasionally taken on the wing; rather widely distributed in 
England and Wales, but, as a rule, not common; London district, not uncommon, 
