370 staphtlinidj:, [Bledius. 



S. femoralis, Gyll. (Bled wdes femora? is, Muls. et Key), A little 

 smaller and more linear than B. fracticornis, with the antennae entirely 

 dark, and their third joint a little shorter in comparison to the second ; 

 the head is a little broader in proportion to the thorax, which is a little 

 narrower and less transverse ; the forehead is almost impunctate ; the 

 posterior angles of the thorax are a little less obliqi;ely rounded, and its 

 punctuation is slightly feebler and less close ; the male has the sixth 

 ventral segment as in the preceding species, except that the long hairs 

 are replaced by a little spine on each side. L. 3| mm. 



This species has only been taken by Mr. G. R. Waterhouse ; Mv. C. 

 O. Waterhouse writes to me regarding it as follows : — "There are some 

 fifteen specimens of B. femoralis in my father's collection, l)ut without 

 locality, evidently marked by himself and similar to other Bledii in his 

 collection ; they belong to a period about 1850, before he marked 

 localities ;" Mr. Waterhouse has kindly sent me one of these ; in this 

 specimen the base of the antennae is evidently lighter than the rest, so 

 that this character may not always be reliable. 



S. opacus, Block {Blediodes opacus, Muls. et Eey). Black, with 

 the elytra reddish-testaceous, the suture and scutellary region being more 

 or less infuscate, head and thorax dull ; head a little narrower than 

 thorax, very finely shagreened ; antenna short, testaceous with apex 

 infuscate, or dark with base testaceous, penultimate joints strongly trans- 

 verse ; thorax a little broader than long, with posterior angles very 

 obtuse, almost rounded, finely channelled, distinctly shagreened, and 

 diffusely and very shallowly punctured (a point which, as above men- 

 tioned, will easily separate the species from B. fracticorni») ; elytra 

 evidently longer than thorax, rather strongly and thickly punctured ; 

 hind body sliining black with apex often pitchy red, almost smooth 

 or very finely shagreened ; legs testaceous or reddish-testaceous. L. 

 3|-4 mm. 



Sandy coasts and banks of rivers ; not common ; Charlton ; Richmond ; Shipley, 

 near Horsham; Lowestoft; Hastings; Eastbourne; Brighton; Weymouth; Hayling 

 Island; Isle of Wight ; Hunstanton (where I took a series on the sandhills in 1879) ; 

 Burton ; Scarborough ; Scotland, rare, Solway, and Tweed districts ; Ireland, near 

 Belfast. 



B. atricapillus, Germ. [Blediodes airicapillus, Muls. et Eey). 

 This is one of the smallest of our species ; it very closely resembles a 

 male B. opacus, and hardly requires a separate description ; apart, how- 

 ever, from its length it may be distinguished by the following characters ; 

 it is narrower and more linear; the thorax is a little longer, and is more 

 finely and thickly punctured, and often of a pitchy-reddish colour ; it 

 also has the posterior angles more obtuse and rounded; the third joint 

 of the antennae is relatively smaller ; the elytra are more finely punctured, 

 and the posterior tiliire are more sparingly setose ; from B. longidus, 

 which it much resembles in size and general appearance, it may be easily 

 distinguished by its longer and more finely punctured elytra, and by the 



