184 SERRICORNIA. [ Hedobia, 
Faversham, Darenth Wood, West Wickham, Coombe Wood, Forest Hill, Mickleham, 
Dulwich, Caterham, Weybridge, Peckham; Tonbridge; Shipley, near Horsham ; 
Harwich; Brandon, Suffolk ; Deal; Hastings; Glanvilles Wootton ; Devon; Bath ; 
Coleshill ; Knowle; Needwood ; Shrewsbury ; Repton ; Sudbrook and Nocton, near 
Lincoln ; Llangollen; Scarborough ; Foxhill, near Manchester; it is not recorded 
by Dr. Sharp from Scotland, but Stephens mentions it as taken at Jedburgh ; itis 
possible that this may be in error, as it does not appear to have occurred in the 
Northumberland and Durham district. 
MEZIUM, Cutis. 
The species belonging to this and the succeeding genus may very 
easily be known by their curious appearance; as Professor Westwood 
observes, they might almost be mistaken when at rest for drops of 
blood; the elytra are globose and connate, and extremely smooth and 
glossy, the antenne approximate at base, stout and strongly pubescent 
or squamose, and the legs long and robust, with the femora clavate at 
apex; in Mez/um the thorax is clothed with thick yellowish pubescence, 
a character which at once distinguishes it from Gbbiwm ; the genus 
which we are now considering contains about half-a-dozen species, of 
which three occur in Europe, and the remainder have been described 
from Algeria and North and South America; they are found in various 
substances, but appear mostly to frequent seeds of various kinds, and 
also the hair or integument of animals; a considerable number are 
recorded as having been once found in an old opera hat, and they are 
somewhat injurious occasionally to collections of insects; the larva, in 
spite of the peculiar appearance of the perfect insect, does not appear to 
differ from those belonging to the other genera of the family ; the pupa, 
as mentioned by Westwood (Classification, i. 272), is enclosed in a 
cocoon formed of silky matter, mixed with the excrements of the 
larva. 
M. affine, Boield. (sulcatum, Sturm, nec F.). Of a lighter or 
darker reddish-brown colour, with the head and thorax, as well as the 
antenne and legs, clothed with thick and strong yellowish pubescence, 
a point that will at once distinguish the species from Gzbbiwm ; antenne 
rather long and robust, with the last joint stouter and less acuminate 
than in the last-mentioned genus; thorax with four more or less distinct 
raised ridges, and the posterior margin thickened; elytra narrowed 
towards base, but much widened behind, very smooth, shining, and 
glabrous, and much inflated; legs long and rather stout, with the apex 
of the femora clavate, last joint of tarsi narrower than the preceding. 
L. 2-3 mm. 
In seeds, and various kinds of decaying animal and vegetable refuse; not common, 
but it has occasionally occurred abundantly in one or two localities ; London, old 
houses (Dr. Power has taken it in Burton Crescent) ; Swansea ; Manchester {in dry- 
salters’ warehouses) ; Scotland, not indigenous ; ‘‘ Edinburgh, among a consignment 
of Decapods from Australia,” Murray’s Cat. 
