488 



MERISTIC VARIATION. 



[part I. 





of these it was clear that they are a pair. When extended the 

 three plantar surfaces are not truly in a horizontal plane, as they 



Fig. 158. Eros minutus, ~So. 746. The right fore leg seen from dorso-posterior 

 aspect. P, posterior face. A, anterior face. This figure was drawn from the 

 microscope and has been reversed. (From a specimen the property of Dr Mason.) 



should be in Position A, 

 is exaggerated in the 

 Dr Mason. 



but 

 figure 



they are nearly so. 

 Specimen very 



This deviation 

 kindly lent bv 



747. Aleochara maesta (Staph.) : middle left tibia has two articulations at apex. 

 The posterior bears a tarsus normal in form but without claws. The anterior bears 

 an extra tarsal series with a pair of rudimentary terminal joints, each having a pair 

 of claws. Of this double tarsus the 3rd and 4th joints are not distinctly separated. 

 The parts are in Position A. Specimen kindly lent by Dr Mason. 



748. Meloe proscarabaeus $ (Heteromera). The apex of the femur of right hind 

 leg is extended on the anterior side so as to form a second apex in the same hori- 

 zontal plane. With this second apex articulates the common head of a pan - of extra 

 tibiff each bearing a complete tarsus. As usual they are a right and a left respectively. 

 The two extra legs are twisted out of their natural position so that they turn their 

 ventral surfaces upwards. The tibia which in origin is remoter from the normal 

 tibia is moreover bent over the nearer tibia so that it stands actually nearer to the 

 normal tibia. In this way the morphological relations are obscured, but nevertheless 

 on tracing the ventral surfaces up to the point of articulation with the femur it is 

 clear that tbey arise in the normal position and that they have the relations marked 

 in the Scheme for the Position A, which is their position of origin. As this case is 

 a somewhat ubscure one, I may add that Dr Sharp, who has kindly examined this 

 specimen, gives me leave to state that he concurs in the above description. This is 

 the specimen described by von Heydex, Isis, 1836, ix. p. 761 and by Mocqcerys, 



. Aimnii. p. 52, fig., and was kindly lent to me by Dr L. von Heyden in whose 

 possession it remains. 



749. Cetonia opaca iLamell.): [right fore leg bears a pair of extra terminal tarsal 

 joints very nearly iu Position A, arising from 4th tarsal joint. All the claws are 

 turned ventralwards, but those of the extra joints are turned away from each other 

 as well as downwards]. Mocquerys, I.e., p. 61. fin. 



*7 



Prionus coriarius? 

 numeral"? pair of tarsi 



(Longicorn), having parts of a super- 

 rising from the middle right tarsus, 

 and also a similar double structure arising from the posterior 









