the British Atomarice. 79 



ever, be distinguished from that insect by their more lightly punc- 

 tured elytra, and by their being less acuminated both before and 

 behind, — their prothoraces moreover (which are slightly bisinu- 

 ated along their posterior margin) being more rounded at the sides 

 than is there the case. From the ^. ruficornis the analis may be 

 known by its somewhat larger bulk, more oblong form, more per- 

 ceptibly punctured elytra, and by its prothorax being altogether 

 broader, and less narrowed posteriorly, than in that species. It 

 would seem to be a rather scarce insect in the south ; it has, how- 

 ever, been taken by Mr. Douglas near Croydon. Specimens have 

 been forwarded to me from Paisley by Mr. Morris Young, and 

 from Edinburgh by Mr. Murray : and (in addition to my own 

 series, which was collected, some years ago, whilst at Cambridge) 

 I have myself met with it at Rosnalee, near Kanturk, in the south 

 of Ireland. 



When immature it forms the type of the A. testacea, and when 

 mature of the ^. atra, of Mr. Stephens. The latter of these 

 names, however, belongs in reality to a totally different insect, 

 and the former (which is represented in the Stephensian cabinet by 

 two specimens of fuscata, and one, imperfectly developed, of 

 the species under consideration) is inapplicable to the present 

 Alomaria, which is generally (with the exception of the shoulders 

 and posterior region) of a deep black : hence neither of them will 

 clash with the title proposed for it by Schiippel, and subsequently 

 adopted by Erichson. As for the Stephensian names of dimidiata 

 and dorsalis (under each of which there are, in the collection, ex- 

 amples of the analis), they, fortunately, do not concern us here, 

 since the typical specimen of neither of them is referrible to our 

 present insect. 



Sp. 22. Alomaria ruficornis. 

 Silpha ruficornis, Mshm, Ent. Brit. i. p. 125 (1802). 

 Alomaria ruficornis, carhonaria (p.), el dorsalis (p.), Steph., 111. 



Brit. Ent. iii. p. 67—69 (1830). 

 Cryplophagus lerminalus (Dahl.), Comolli, Col. Nov. ac Rar. Prov. 



Novocom. p. 20(1837). 

 Alomaria terminala, Erich., Nat. der Ins. Deuts., iii. p. 399 (1848). 

 The slightly smaller size, and more ovate outline, of this species, 

 in conjunction with its less distinctly punctured elytra (which are 

 much rounded off at the shoulders), shorter and more robust an- 

 tennae, and the structure of its prothorax (which is constricted 

 behind, and somewhat more posteriorly produced, in front of the 

 scutellum, than is the case in that insect), will readily separate it 



