Common Beetles of our Countryside 



thorax strongly contracted behind, and oblong elytra 

 shining red-yellow with a blue-black spot or patch 

 about the middle of each, leaving the apex red-yellow ; 

 legs and antennae reddish. It is fairly common on the 

 Downs, but the three other species of the genus are all 

 very much rarer ; one very similar to bipustulatus, 

 but larger, called B. unipustulatus, one smaller, quite 

 black, B. pdtatus, both of which occur in muddy 

 places by the side of water, and one, the smallest of 

 them all, B. sodalis (3j mm.), which can be sometimes 

 found in the damp layers of fallen leaves in beech 

 woods. 



Our next capture is of another Geodephagous genus, 

 which we have not so far met with, although most of 

 its species are rather common, that is, Calathus. 

 The form reminds one of Amara, the same regular oval 

 with the thorax not narrowed behind ; possibly the 

 first species we shall find will be Calathus flavipcs 

 (the yellow-legged Calathus), Fig. 19, Plate IV., length 

 8 to 10 mm., in colour a dull dead black with legs 

 and antennae which are rather long, red-yellow, the 

 elytra plainly striated or grooved. These Calathi 

 can be distinguished from most of the other Geode- 

 phaga of about equal size, by their oval instead of oblong 

 form, and from the Amara which they most resemble 

 in this respect by the absence of the metallic gloss, 

 which distinguishes those beetles. We have seven 

 British species of Calathus, the most widely distributed 

 being perhaps C. melanoccphalus, which is smaller than 

 C. flavipes (6 to 7 mm.). In this species the head and 



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