3G8 STAPHYLiNiDxE. \_Bledius. 



Banks of rivers, &c. ; local, but abundant where it occurs ; it appears to be mis- 

 taken occasionally for B. suhterraneus. Wimbledon; banks of Bollin, Cheshire; 

 Tewkesbury, banks of the Severn (where I have taken it in great profusion by throwing 

 up water against the clay banks) ; Manchester district ; Scarborough ; Lancaster ; 

 Scotland, riparial, local, Solway district. 



B. fuscipes, Rye {pallipes, Fauv., palUpes, Grav., $ H. R, W.). 

 Closely allied to the preceding, and chiefly distinguished from it by its 

 darker legs which are fuscous or fusco-testaceous, and stouter antennte 

 which are more thickened at ajDex, and also by its somewhat shorter elytra ; 

 the forehead also is less even ; from B. suhterraneus it differs by its 

 shorter elytra, less prominent posterior angles of thorax, and the lesser 

 spinosity of the outer edge of the anterior tibiae, as well as by the much 

 more transverse apical joints of the antennae ; according to Mr. Rye 

 (in his desciiption, Ent. Monthly Mag. ii. 155) the structure of the 

 antennae separates the species from any of its allies, "■ the basal joint 

 being clear testaceous, the second more or less pitchy, longer and much 

 stouter than the third, which, with the rest, is pitchy black ; the fourth 

 shorter than the third ; the fifth, sixth, and seventh gradually getting 

 wider, and the eighth, ninth, and tenth widening towards the apex, and 

 exceedingly transverse, the apical joint being suddenly blunt, wide, and 

 about half as long again as the penultimate." L. 3| mm. 



A maritime species, found in damp sandy places near or not far from the coast ; 

 Liverpool district, Crosby, Wallasey, and Hightown ; Scotland, very local, Forth 

 district, where it was first taken in large numbers in June, 1864, by Mr. Rye and 

 Dr. Sharp on the borders of the Firth of Forth, near Aberlady ; according to Mr. 

 Kidson Taylor (Ent. Monthly Mag. vii. 10) they usually occur in pairs, one, probably 

 the female, being at the bottom of a downcast burrow, about one and a half inches 

 deep, and the other in a short transverse burrow, close to the mouth ; the casts 

 resemble those of the larger horned Bledii, being in little heaps, and not like the 

 sinuous galleries of B. suhterraneus, &c., which are always near the surface. 



There is still considerable difference of opinion regarding this species, 

 as many authors consider it identical with B. 'palU^^es, and to be either 

 a variety or the female of that insect ; it cannot possibly be the latter as 

 it occurs in numbers without B. paUipes, and the shape of its antennae 

 seems to separate it specifically, as well as its habits ; my Tewkesbury 

 specimens, however (named for me as B. pallipes by M. Brisout), seem 

 to be somewhat intermediate between the two forms or species. 



B. subterraneus, Er. {pallipes, Thorns. 7iec Grav., rastellus, 

 Schiodte nee Thorns., Astijcops suhterraneus, Muls. et Rey). Very 

 closely allied to the two preceding species by its general appearance, 

 sculpture, &c., but separated sub-generically from them by Mulsant and 

 Rej'^ by reason of its more slender mandibles and bilobed labrum ; from 

 both it may easily be distinguished by its much longer elytra which are 

 nearly twice as long as the thorax ; the differences between this species 

 and B. fuscipes have been pointed out above ; it aj)pears to be more 

 closely related to B. pallipes than to the latter insect, but besides the 



