the British Atomarice. 69 



Erich. : but as no one of them has Mr. Stephens's " typical label" 

 attached to it, it is impossible to decide which of the two species 

 his diagnosis (which agrees with neither) was intended to repre- 

 sent. As Gyllenhal's Cryplophagus umhrinus, however, was 

 published three years before Mr. Stephens's A. nigrirostris, it is 

 certain that the latter title (even if applied by the author to 

 Gyllenhal's insect) cannot in any way interfere with the former. 



S. II. Body more or less oblong ; prothorax as in the last section. 

 Sp. 6. Atomaria nigriventris. 



Atomaria nigriventris {testibus t. t.), Steph., III. Brit. Ent. iii. 



p. 69 (1830). 



■ nigrirostris (^Tp.) et linearis (p.), Steph., 111. Brit. Ent. iii. 



p. 69 (1830). 

 nana, Erich., Nat. der Ins. Deuts. iii. p. 379 (1848). 



The rather deeply punctured surface and subcylindrical body 

 of this species, which has the thorax slightly narrower than is the 

 case in the preceding one (as also less distinctly margined, with 

 no indications of a central transverse impression behind, and 

 usually darker), will serve to separate it from its allies. It appears 

 to be rather common in the neighbourhood of London. Mr. 

 Waterhouse has captured it in the Hammersmith marshes, at 

 Highgate, Hampstead, Greenhithe and Erith ; Mr. Douglas at 

 Darenth wood ; and I have taken it at Box Hill and Southend. 

 In more distant spots I have no evidence of its being so abundant : 

 I have, however, met with it at Spridlington, near Lincoln ; Mr. 

 Waterhouse has found it at Gosport ; Messrs. Murray and Morris 

 Young, in Scotland ; and Mr. Haliday states that it occurs in 

 Ireland. I have a specimen, taken at Cassel, which was examined 

 by Erichson himself: it agrees precisely with the British ones. 



As already stated, under species 4, the A. nigriventris of the 

 Stephensian collection is coincident with the (subsequently esta- 

 blished) A, nana, of Erichson, — which, in accordance with the 

 law of priority, is consequently superseded. True it is that Mr. 

 Stephens's cabinet contains, under the name of nigriventris (in 

 addition to the five individuals of our present species), a single 

 example of the A. linearis, and another of the A. elongatula : but 

 that these are mere after-interpolations, and need not be taken into 

 account, is proved by the fact that two, out of the five individuals 

 above mentioned, have labels attached to them ; and it is well 

 known that Mr. Stephens was in the habit of appending to the tijpe^ 

 from which his diagnosis was drawn out, some sort of a ticket ; — 



