70 Mr. T. V. Wollaston's Revision of 



whilst the circumstance, that in the present instance there are 

 actually tjvo labelled specimens (one only being commonly indi- 

 cated), renders this the more certain.* 



Sp. 7. Alomar'ia j^eltata. 



Atomaria peltata, Kraatz, Ent. Zeit. 95 (1853). 



A rather large and well-marked species, and one which may be 

 known by the darkness of its hue, — which fades off, on the elytra 

 (especially towards the apex), into a more or less bright chestnut ; 

 by its medially dilated prothorax ; and by its pale cinereous pube- 

 scence. Its limbs also are actually more variegated than is the case 

 in the allied species, — the femora, the apical half of the tibiae, and 

 the extreme apex of the tarsi, being dark. In some respects it 

 approaches the A. elongatula ; but its rather shorter, more ovate, 

 and convexer form, and more distinctly margined prothorax, will, 

 in conjunction with the characters above enumerated, at once 

 separate it therefrom. I possess five specimens of a pale infus- 

 cated-ferruginous hue ; but I doubt if they are more than immature. 

 It is one of the rarest of the British Atomarice: I have, however, 

 captured it at Spridlington and South Ferriby, in Lincolnshire ; 

 at Shenton, in Leicestershire ; and in Professor Henslow's garden 

 at Hitcham, in Suffolk. Mr. Janson, also, has taken it at Hamp- 

 stead, near London ; and Mr. Morris Young in the neighbourhood 

 of Paisley. Like the A.fcrruginea andjimetarii, it is unrepresented 

 in the Stephensian cabinet. 



* Considering that there are five examples of the A, nana, of Erichson, under 

 each of the Stephensian species, nigrirostris and nigriventtis, it may perhaps be 

 asked whether the former has not as great a claim as the latter to be regarded as 

 the exponent of it. To this, however, I would reply that it certainly has not ; 

 first, because the nana and umhrina are almost equally combined under the 

 nigrirostris, whereas under the nigriventris the specimens are all referrible to 

 nana except two (those two, moreover, being so distinct inter se, and from the 

 nana, that they could not have been regarded by Mr. Stephens as identical with 

 the rest) ; and, secondly, because there is no label attached to any one of the 

 specimens under nigrirostris (thereby warranting that it may be considered as, 

 far excellence, typical), whereas under the nigriventris two (and those veritable 

 nanas) are ticketed. Conceding therefore (as I think we must necessarily do) 

 that the continental A. nana is strictly synonymous with the Stephensian iiigri- 

 ventris, it follows that the nigriroitris of Stephens should be identified with the 

 A. nmhrina: and it is further evident, moreover, that, as the latter name is 

 prior to the Stephensian one, the title of nigrirostris must be altogether sup- 

 pressed. 



