British Species of Homalota. 113 



16. Homalota labilis. 



N'igra, nitida^ antennis piceisj pedibus testaceis^ femor- 

 ibus infuscatis ; antennis apicem versus paulo incrassatis -, 

 thorace sub quadrate, cum capite elytrisque subtiliter 

 sat confertim punctate ; abdomine supra sequaliter con- 

 fertim subtiliter punctate. Long. 1^-1^ lin. 



Mas ; capite impresso, abdomine segment© 7° ventrali 

 evidenter producto, angusto, apice rotundato-ovali. 



Fern. ; segmento 7° ventrali apice medio obsolete, vix 

 evidenter, emarginato. 



H. labilis, Er. Kiif. Brand, i. 699 ; Gen. et Spec. Staph. 

 88 ; Kr. Ins. Deutsch. ii. 226 ; Wat. Cat. Gnypeta labilis, 

 Th. Sk. Col. iii. 7. 



Var. — Hobustior, pedibus nigris, genubus tarsisque 

 testaceis. 



H. ccerulea, Wat. Cat. 



A black and very shining species. Antennse of moder- 

 ate length and thickness, a little thickened towards the 

 apex ; pitchy, sometimes paler at the base ; second and 

 third joints rather long, third nearly as long as the second ; 

 five to ten differing but little in length ; the first of them 

 a little longer than, the last of them scarcely so long as, 

 broad; eleventh about half as long again as the tenth. 

 Head but little narrower than the thorax, extremely 

 finely, but pretty densely punctured. Thoi-ax consider- 

 ably narrower than the elytra ; a little narrowed behind, 

 its length about equal to its breadth, with an impression 

 in front of the scutellum ; extremely finely and tolerably 

 densely punctured. Elytra about a fourth part longer 

 than the thorax; very finely and pretty densely punc- 

 tured. Abdomen with all the segments above densely 

 and finely punctured ; the sixth not more sparingly than 

 the others ; both the punctuation and pubescence are 

 more distinct than those of the fore parts. The legs are 

 yellowish, with the thighs (and the tibiee more or less) 

 infuscate. 



In the male the head has a distinct impression on the 

 upper surface, and the seventh abdominal segment under- 

 neath is narrow, and distinctly produced. 



Common on the muddy banks of rivers and ponds. 

 It runs with great rapidity in the warm sunshine of spi'ing 

 days. 



