British Species of Homalota. 127 



Somewhat like a small H. elongatula, but with a pecu- 

 liar dullish appearance, and at once to be distinguished 

 from that species by the punctuation of the abdomen, 

 and the structure of the posterior tarsi. The antennae 

 are rather stout for a species of this section, pitchy- 

 testaceous, a little thickened towards the apex; joints 

 two and three rather long, and of nearly equal length ; 

 from the fourth to the tenth each one is just a little shorter 

 and broader than the preceding one, the tenth scarcely 

 so long as broad, the eleventh rather stout and about 

 twice the length of the tenth. The palpi are pitchy-testa- 

 ceous. The head is narrower than the thorax, dull ; the 

 punctuation so fine as to be scarcely visible. The thorax 

 is evidently narrower than the elytra, but little narrowed 

 behind, the length about equal to the breadth, very 

 finely and closely punctured, with a more or less distinct 

 broad shallow impression in the middle in front of the 

 base. The elytra are scarcely a fourth longer than the 

 thorax, closely and finely punctured. The abdomen has 

 segments two to five above, closely, finely, and evenly 

 punctured, the punctuation of the fifth segment being a 

 little more sparing than that of the fourth ; the sixth 

 segment is nearly impunctate. The legs are yellow, 

 more or less pitchy ; the posterior tarsi long and slender, 

 the basal joint nearly twice as long as the second. 



The male is with difiiculty distinguished from the 

 female by the upper and under plates of the seventh ab- 

 dominal segment being narrower than in the other sex. 

 The impression at the base of the thorax is often more 

 evident in the male than in the female. 



A very abundant species all over the country, and one 

 which occurs in very difierent spots. 



Ohs. — Out of some hundreds of specimens, I find only 

 one that can be considered a variety ; it is much smaller, 

 and generally paler in colour than ordinary H. gregaria. 



Group V. Ahdomen with the hasal segments sparingly 

 punctured, the apical ones nearly impunctate. 



(Species 28—35) . 



Of this group H. vestita and silvicola are somewhat 

 discordant members ; the male characters of these two 

 are different from the rest. H. silvicola indeed exhibits 

 a considerable resemblance to the merdaria group. H. 

 vestita is confined to the coast; the other species are 

 found among moss, dead leaves, &c. 



