16 



fore part and slightly contracted behind; posterior margin rounded, posterior angles 

 obtusely rounded ; anterior angles rather acute; upper surface moderately convex, 

 and with a somewhat large and shallow depression behind. Elytra ample, fully one- 

 fourth longer than the thorax, and nearly twice as broad. Abdomen growing rather 

 broader towards the hinder part, very thickly and finely punctured throughout. Legs 

 testaceous ; the femora and libiaj more or less suffused with brown. I can perceive no 

 differences indicative of sexes in the specimens before me. 

 Found by Dr. Power, at Seaford, near Newhaven. 



HOMALOTA IMBECILLA. 



H. Linearis, subdepressa, suhlililer puhescens, nvjra, nitidiuscula, antennis pedibusque 

 fu sees centi bus, ano elytrisque lestaceis, his basi fuscis ; ihorace Iransversim 

 subquadrato ; abdomine supra omnino crebre punctata. Long. 1| lin. 



Head very little narrower than the thorax, rounded and moderately convex, very 

 finely and rather thickly punctured ; antenna), if bent back, reaching about to the apex 

 of the elytra ; slender and with no perceptible increase in thickness towards the apex ; 

 the penultimate joints as long as broad ; the middle joints longer than broad ; the 

 terminal joint nearly as long as the two preceding joints taken together; palpi fuscous, 

 paler at the base. Thorax subquadrate, slightly broader than long, straight in front, 

 very gently rounded at the sides, and more distinctly rounded behind ; above gently 

 convex, very finely and thickly punctured, and with a shallow fovea behind. Elytra 

 scarcely longer and very little broader than the thorax, and very thickly and rather 

 finely punctured. Abdomen with all the segments thickly and finely punctured ; the 

 punctures, however, on the terminal segments are a little less dense than on the basal ; 

 from the apex of the abdomen spring numerous longish hairs. First joint of the 

 posterior tarsi a trifle longer than the second. 



I found several specimens of this insect under rejectamenta at the mouth of the 

 Orwell, in September, 1855. It is a soft and delicate little insect, and subject to con- 

 siderable variation in colouring, chiefly in the elytra, these being sometimes entirely 

 pale and sometimes entirely pitchy, but usually they are dusky at the base, and this 

 dark colour is more or less extended in different individuals ; the apex of the abdomen 

 is always pale. 



H. imbecilla, together with H. fluviatilis, ATraa^^, H. camhrica, WoUaston, and H. 

 ihinobioides, Kraatz, may be grouped together as linear species allied to H. elonga- 

 lula, but distinguibhed by the abdomen being thickly punctured throughout. 



H. fluviatilis — or rather an insect (found on the banks of the Thames, near Ham- 

 mersmith, by Mr. S<iuire) which I suppose to be the species so named by Kraatz — 

 approaches the nearest to H. elongatula, but differs in being rather smaller, in having 

 the body black throughout, the antennae dusky (or impure black) to the base, the head 

 rather narrower and less rounded, the sides being nearly parallel, and the thorax 

 rather longer. 



H. imbecilla is about equal in size to the smallest specimens of H. elongatula; 

 the antennae are longer and more slender than in that insect, sometimes fusco-testa- 

 ceous throughout, and sometimes entirely dusky ; the legs of a less bright and clear 

 colour, being more or less suffused with brown or dusky at the base. 



H. cambrica is very like H. imbecilla, but its form is more slender, its elytra are 

 longer, and the punctuation is finer and more dense; that on the thorax and elytra, 



