54 BRITISH BEETLES. 



wet places, such as reedy spots on canal banks, etc., 

 near London. 



The palm .of beauty must, however, be conceded to 

 Callistus, as its name implies, "the fairest of the 

 fair." Our single species, C. lunatus, is about a quarter 

 of an inch long ; its head metallic, bluish or greenish- 

 black ; its thorax heart-shaped, orange-red; its elytra 

 oval, orange-yellow (when alive, rose-pink), with a 

 shoulder spot and two transverse bands deep black ; its 

 legs are yellow tipped with black, and the entire insect 

 has a delicate velvety appearance (Elate II, Fig. 1). It 

 frequents chalky districts, and may sometimes be found 

 under stones on the downs near Croydon. Under simi- 

 lar circumstances at Box Hill, and on the south-coast 

 downs, the species of Licinus may be taken. One of 

 them was, I believe, at first only known to be a Brit- 

 ish species from a single specimen having been caught in 

 Cheapside, whither it must have had a long flight from 

 its chalky haunts. This insect, L. silphoides (Plate I, 

 Fig. 6), superficially resembles certain members of the 

 genus Silpha in the Necrophaga : from which the be- 

 ginner may distinguish it by its long slender antennae, 

 those organs in Silpha being short, with an abrupt knob 

 at the tip. It is about half an inch in length ; broad, 

 flat, deep dull-black in hue, and distinctly wrinkled, 

 punctured and striated. The two basal joints of the front 

 tarsi in the male are very strongly and widely dilated. 



Loricera, a small bronze-coloured insect, is remark- 

 able for its antennae being adorned with long stiff hairs ; 

 the Panagm have red elytra, marked with a large black 

 cross ; and the species of Badister, found usually in the 

 cracks of wet mud or clay banks, are recognizable by the 

 rounded front of their heads. 



