110 RHYNCHOPHORA. [ Brachytarsus- 
BRACHYTARSWUS, Schonherr. 
This genus contains upwards of twenty species, of which nine are 
found in Europe and the remainder in North America, Siberia end 
Brazil: they are small, short, thickset insects, which vary considerably 
in size and colour; the antenne are short, with distinct three-jointed 
club, and the tibiz are stout and dilated towards apex ; the thorax at 
base is sinuate on either side and has no transverse keel before base ; the 
larve, as has been observed above, are parasitic on certain species of 
Coccus, and undergo their transformations under the dry skin or cocoon 
of the females; the larva of B. fasciatus has been found parasitic on 
Lecanium genevense on the white-thorn, and on Pulvinaria carpint on 
the hornbeam: it has also been found with Coeci on Spirca salicifolta ; 
the larva of B. varius has been found under the cocoon of Lecanium 
racemosum (= abietis) on the pine.* 
I. Striz coarse ; lateral border of thorax marked through- 
out; prevailing colour of elytra*brick-red . . . B, rascratus, Forst. 
DE. Stxies comparatively fine; lateral border of nore 
marked towards posterior angles ay 3 ; prevailing colour 
of elytra pitchy-black . . . . LLL DUAL BS amt ee 
B. fasciatus, Forst. (scubrosus, F.). Short oval, convex, dull; 
head black, rather large, with eyes prominent, rugosely punctured ; 
thorax black, transverse, with the sides rounded, and narrowed in front, 
the lateral border marked throughout, and the posterior angles somewhat 
strongly produced, punctuation rugose; elytra reddish, variegated with 
black and whitish oblong spots, scutellary region fuscous, punctured 
strie coarse, interstices finely rugose ; antenne and legs black; the 
colour is somewhat variable, the dark patches being larger in some 
specimens than in others. L. 3-4 mm. 
In decaying white-thorn and elm; local, but sometimes found in abundance. 
Lee (Kent), Richmond, Highgate, Peckham, Weybridge, Chobham, Putney, 
Camberwell, Ripley, Wimbledon, Forest Hill (where Mr. Champion once took it in 
the greatest profusion in white-thorn blossom in May); Hertford; Dover; Ports- 
mouth (out of decayed furze); Wood Ditton, Cambridge ; Weston, Oxon; North- 
ampton; Swansea; Llangollen; Cannock Chase ; Repton ; Bretby Wood near 
Repton; Barton Moss, Cheshire ; Nocton near Lincoln. 
B. varius, F. (variegatus, Fourc.), Very like the preceding, but 
easily distinguished by the much finer striz of the elytra and the fact 
that the lateral border of the thorax is marked towards posterior angles 
only, as well as by the colour, which is black with ashy lines on the 
thorax and ashy subquadrate or oblong patches on the interstices of the 
elytra ; the markings on the thorax are, however, very often rubbed 
and scarcely apparent ; the thorax, too, is longer and the second joint 
* Mr. R. Newstead, Curator of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, has quite recently 
(August, 1890) sent me a specimen of B. varius with the following remark: ‘ I have 
just bred it froma new Coccid (Lecanium distinguendum, Douglas), which I discovered 
this year at Delamere Forest on Vaccinium,’ 
