The Beetles of the Downs 



bugloss. But Longitarsus is a large genus of more 

 than thirty British species, many of which are exceed- 

 ingly difficult to make out even when we have 

 taken them. Perhaps the plants on which they feed 

 and from which we may sweep them afford as good 

 a guide as any other as to which species they may be ; 

 for instance, somewhere in the hollows of this chalk 

 slope the woodsage is sure to grow and by sweeping 

 that plant in the late summer we shall certainly take 

 in profusion a much smaller Longitarsus than is 

 exoletus, being under 2mm. long, entirely straw-coloured, 

 with a rather darker head, legs entirely pale ; this 

 will be L. membranaceus. Then, if we can find some 

 ragwort, a common enough plant, anywhere, we shall 

 take one larger than exoletus, in fact one of the largest 

 Longitarsus we possess, entirely reddish-yellow, which 

 will be L. jacobace, and another smaller under 2 mm., 

 rather more oblong and flatter in shape, also entirely 

 straw-coloured with very weak punctuation which 

 will be L. gracilis. Another, certainly the most 

 abundant of the genus which we can sweep from almost 

 anything and which varies in colour from pale brown 

 to almost black with very strong punctuation, is called, 

 L. luridus. Several other species we can take on the 

 downs the thyme ought to yield us L. obliterates, a 

 small species entirely black, and the mullein the largest 

 species we possess L. verbasci. 



But returning to our viper's bugloss, we shall notice, 

 besides the Longitarsus, a small greyish-black insigni- 

 ficant looking beetle, oblong in shape, with short legs 



9 



