Co7lOSOma.'\ STAPIIYLINIDiE. 101 



I. Base of thorax very sliglitly emarprinate before scu- 

 telluin, wliich is always exposed; elytra dai-k with 



large basal reddish-testaceous spot; length 4—5 mm. . C. LirxoaEUiI, L. 



II. Base of thorax not emarginate, more or less (often 



entirely) co\a'ring seutelhun. 

 i. Elytra dark or reddish, without definite spot. 



1. Length 4-5 mm C. PUBESCENS, Orav. 



2. Length 2-2 .V mm. 



A. Upper surfuee entirely dark. 



a. Elytra longer than thorax ; posterior tarsi ' 



longer than tibia}; anteunsE dark with base 



and apex lighter C. immaculatctm, Sleph. 



h. Elytra at suture not longer than tlior:ix; 



posterior tarsi hardly as long as tibitc ; 



antennae entirely yellow C. pediculakium, Orav. 



B. Upper surface cliiefly reddish or testaceous, 



elytra a little longer than thorax . . . • . C. lividum, Er. 

 ii. Elytra dark with a large, plainly marked, orange- 

 red testaceous spot at base ; length 2 mm. . . . C. bipunctatum, Gran. 



C littoreum, L. Broad in front and much narrowed behind, very 

 thickly pubescent, dull pitchy brown with the posterior angles of thorax 

 and a large well-defined patch at base of elytra reddish testaceous ; head 

 sparingly punctured, but very finely, the rest of the upper surface very 

 finely and thickly pitnctured ; antennae long and slender, testaceous with 

 the middle joints often darker ; thorax rather long^ narrowed in front, 

 rather broader at base than elytra, posterior angles somewhat recurved and 

 rather sharp; elytra half as long again as thorax, a little narrower at apex 

 than at base ; hinil body strongly contiacted at apex, dark with apical 

 margins of segments slightly reddish ; legs testaceous. L. 4-5 mm. 



In fagjTots, bottoms of woodstacks, under loose bark, in fungi, rotten wood, &c. ; 

 not uncommon ; Lnndou district, generally ; Southern Counties and Midlands, widely 

 distributed; Yorkshire; Lincoln; Manchester district; Northumberland district, 

 not uncommon ; Scotland, Lowlands, Forth and Solway districts. 



C. pubescens, Grav. Of the same size and shape as the preceding, 

 which it closely resembles ; the absence, however, of the well-defined 

 reddish-testaceous spots at base of elytra will at once distinguish it ; the 

 colour of the elytra is variable, usually brownish, and reddish on disc ; 

 sometimes they are concolorous with the rest of the body («. constans. 

 Sharp), and occasionally chestnut brown ; the scutellum is covered, or 

 almost covered by the base of thorax; the elytra are shorter, and the 

 antennae also are shorter, and have the penultimate joints slightly trans- 

 verse ; the punctuation also of the upper surface is not quite so close. 

 L. 4-5 mm. 



Jn haystack refuse, moss, &c. ; generally distributed and commoner than the pre-, 

 ceding. 



C. immaculatum, Steph. {Conurus fu,-icuhts, Er.). Pitchy black, 

 thickly pubesceiat, but with front parts somoAvhat shining, apical margins 

 of segments of hind body distinctly reddish testaceous ; head almost 

 smooth, antonnaj rather short, and somewhat thickenetl, dark or brownish 

 red with Ijase and apex yellow, penultimate joints rather strongly trans- 



