Braclujpterus.'] clavicornia, 221 



BaACHlTPTSS-US, Kug(?lanii. 



Tliis genus, taken in its M'idest sense as including Heterostmnus, Duv., 

 BracliyJeptus, Mots,, and Brachyptenis, i. sp., contains abont thirty or 

 forty species, ^vhicll are widely distributed throughout the world, repre- 

 sentatives occurring in the Atlantic Islands, South Africa, North an<l 

 Central America, Australia, &c.; seventeen species occur in Europe, of 

 which three are found in Britain ; externally they much resemble 

 Meligethes, from which they may at once be known by having the last 

 segments of the abdomen exposed antl not covered by the elytra. 



I. Size lai-fjcr ; elytra about one-third longer than thorax . B, GRAVIDUS, 7Z/. 

 II. Size smaller ; elytra nearly twice as long as thorax. 



i. Colour ka'len black ; legs aud antennas pitchy .... B. PUBESCENS, ^r. 



ii. Colour reddish- brown ; legs and antenna) rufous . . . B. TXRtic^, Ku(j. 



S. gravidns, 111. (Caferetes pidicarlus, Gyll. ; linarke, Steph. ; 

 Heterostomiis gravidns l)uv.). Convex, rather broad, of a dull black 

 colour, clothed with brownish grey pubescence, upper surface very 

 closely punctured ; antennae red ; thorax almost broader than elytra, 

 "with sides rounded and narrowed in front, base bisinuate, posterior 

 angles somewhat projecting ; scutellum large, triangular; elytra a third 

 longer than thorax ; legs red, intermediate and posterior pairs often 

 blackish. L. 2f-3 mm. 



Local, but not uncommon in many districts ; on the common toad-flax, ii^Kyr/fZ 

 TitJgaris ; London district, r:ither common; Chatham, Micklclusm, Chobham, 

 Belvedere, Shiere, Reigate ; Maidstone; Brandon, Snliblk ; Birchiiigton ; Dover; 

 Deal; Folkestone; Southampton; Winchester; Porilaud ; Burwell Fen ; IVyford, 

 near Eepton ; Hunstanton; Wallasey, Cheshire; Northumberland district, Hetton 

 Hall, near Be. ford ; not recorded from Scotland. 



In the European catalogue of Heyden, Reitter, and Weise, B. gravidus, 

 111., and B. linarke, Steph., are given as separate species ; we certainly 

 do not possess more than one species of the sub-genus Heterostomus as 

 British, and Erichson and other authors have always considered them 

 identical. 



S< pubsscens, Er. {Catpvetes uriicce, var a., 111. ; glalcr, Newm.). 

 Much smaller than the preceding ; leaden black, with legs and antennge 

 pitchy ; thorax about as broad as elytra, plainly transverse, truncate in 

 front and behind, rather thickly punctured, posterior angles bluntly 

 rounded ; scutellum semicircular, j^^uctured ; elytra nearly twice as 

 long as thorax, rather thickly punctured ; legs rather long. L. 2 mm. 



Generally distributed and common throughout the midland and southern districts 

 of England, but le.^s common further north ; Scotland, rare, Solway district ; it is 

 found chiefly on nettles. 



S. urticse, Kug. Very like the preceding, bnt easily distinguished 

 by its reddish-brown colour, and thinner pubescence, which causes it to 

 appear more shiny ; the legs and antennas are rufous ; the elytra arc 



