British Species of Homalota. 195 



traBSversis ) thorace transverso; abdomine segmeutis 

 2-4 subtiliter sat crebre punctatis, 5 et 6 parcius punc- 

 tatis. Long. 1^ lin. 



Mas; abdomine segmento 7° dorsali margine poste- 

 riore subtiliter ci^enulato^ uti'inque denticulo acuto ter- 

 minato. 



H. trinotata, Kr. Ins. Deutsch. ii. 272 ; Wat. Cat. 

 Atheta socialis, Th. Sk. Col. iii. 76. 



A rather shining, and with the exception of the elytra 

 and legs, dark-coloured species. The antennse are nearly 

 black, pitchy at the base, from the third joint onwards 

 gradually though slightly thickened towards the apex ; 

 the three basal joints moderately long, three a little 

 longer than two, four slightly broader than three, about 

 as broad as, or a little broader than long, from this onwards 

 each joint is slightly broader than its predecessor, five 

 to ten distinctly transverse; eleventh joint rather broad, 

 as long as the two preceding together. Head black, 

 moderately shining, finely and indistinctly punctured, 

 narrower than the thorax. Thorax a little narrower than 

 the elytra, half as broad again as long, the sides nearly 

 straight, gently rounded at the anterior angles, finely 

 and not closely punctured, with an indistinct impression 

 in front of the scutellum. Elytra fully a third longer 

 than the thorax, yellowish, with a tolerably well defined, 

 dark, triangular patch at the scutellum, and another on 

 each side near the apical angle, finely and pretty closely 

 punctured. The abdomen is black and shining, segments 

 two to four pretty finely and tolerably closely punctured, 

 fifth segment distinctly but more sparingly, sixth sparingly 

 punctured. Legs yellow. 



In the male, the seventh dorsal segment of the abdo- 

 men has the posterior margin finely crenulate, but not 

 thickened, the crenulations on each side terminated by a 

 small and not distinct sharper tooth; the ventral plate 

 of the same segment has the posterior margin less straight, 

 more rounded than in the female. 



Very abundant in vegetable refuse matter all over the 

 kingdom. Especially fond of foul straw. 



Obs. — Seeing the great confusion that exists as to the 

 synonymy of H. socialis, and the impossibility of deter- 

 mining with accuracy the exact species to which the 

 name of the older authors should be applied, I have 



