Jletcecus. | HETEROMERA. 83 
insect (which has not occurred in Britain) are, therefore, apparently totally different 
to those of M. paradoxus ; Professor Westwood, -however, is of opinion that the larva 
may after all be parasitic upon some other larva which resides in the stems of the 
Eryngium. 
M. paradoxus, L. (J v. apicalis, Gradl.). Moderately elongate, 
rather dull, black, with the sides of the thorax broadly yellow, elytra 
testaceous with the apex black in male, black in the female ; head 
deflexed, almost flat, closely punctuved, antenne varying in the sexes ; 
thorax a little narrower in front than the head, produced in a strong 
lobe over scutellum, with a very broad and deep central furrow, which 
is smooth, sides and other parts closely punctured ; elytra very strongly 
narrowed and divaricate towards apex, closely and somewhat asperately 
punctured, with the shoulders well marked; legs black, elongate, spurs 
of tibiz and claws red or testaceous. L. 10-12 mm. 
Male with the elytra testaceous, black at apex, the antenne bipec- 
tinate, the sixth segment of the abdomen conspicuous, and the anterior 
femora obtusely toothed beneath in middle. 
Female with the elytra black, sometimes yellow at shoulders, the 
antenne simply pectinate, and the abdomen yellow with the sixth seg- 
ment not conspicuous, 
In the nests of Vespa vulgaris and V. rufa; rarely found on flowers ; rare ; Coombe 
Wood and Godstone, Surrey (Stephens) ; Cambridge ; Netley; Glanvilles Wootton, 
very rare; Llangollen; Monmouth and Hereford district; Leominster (Mrs. 
Hutchinson) ; Redditch ; Repton ; Scarborough ; Selby, near Leeds ; Northumberla. d 
and Durham district, not common; Scotland, very rare, Clyde aud Forth districts. 
ANTHICIDA. 
The characteristics of this family, as here constituted, may be de- 
scribed as follows :—Head rather large, deflexed, strongly constricted at 
some distance behind the eyes, which are elliptical and entire, and 
rather coarsely granulated ; antenne filiform ; maxillary palpi with 
the last joint securiform ; neck very small, punctiform ; thorax narrower 
at base than elytra, with the sides not margined, narrowed towards 
base ; elytra not striated, pygidium somewhat exposed ; abdomen com- 
posed of five free ventral segments, the first being much longer than 
the second ; posterior coxz somewhat distant, intermediate cox almost 
contiguous, but separated at apex; tarsi with the penultimate joints 
bilobed, claws simple ; species small. 
The family contains about a dozen genera and between four and five 
hundred species ; of these, however, considerably more than half belong 
to the genus Anthicus ; they are very widely distributed throughout the 
world from Siberia to the Australian region ; they appear, however, to 
occur in greater numbers in temperate than in tropical countries; seven 
genera, represented by about one hundred and fifty species, occur in 
Europe ; of these two genera and ten species are found in Britain. 
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