Common Beetles of our Countryside 



shake out a handful of moss anywhere in the Kingdom 

 without dislodging T. hypnorum ; it differs from 

 chrysomelinus in having the thorax black with the 

 margins only red instead of being entirely red. 



Another Brachelytron very much larger and of quite 

 a different aspect we shall probably rake out of the 

 Down side a species known as Astilbus canaliculatus 

 (the channelled Astilbus), Fig. 8, Plate IV. What strikes 

 one first about this beetle is its heavy thickened antennae, 

 its very small elytra, swollen hind body and long legs. 

 It is quite 4 mm. long, in colour a dull chestnut brown, 

 with the head and a ring just above the apex of the hind 

 body almost black. It can be at once distinguished by 

 its thorax, which is small and oval in shape with a wide 

 channel or indentation (whence its name) down the 

 centre ; the antennae are rather long and black except 

 the first three joints, which are reddish, the legs a rather 

 lighter brown than the body. 



A. canaliculatus is quite a common beetle in chalk and 

 limestone districts, and as there is but one British species 

 in the genus it is easily recognized. 



If we carefully examine the paper over which we are 

 pulling this moss to pieces, we may notice a small reddish 

 brown insect which looks perhaps more like some small 

 spider than a beetle. It is one, nevertheless, and 

 introduces us to a type we have not hitherto met with 

 either in size or shape, being much smaller than any 

 species we have yet seen, and quite unlike our general 

 conception of what a beetle ought to be. It is called 

 Pselaphus heisei (after some defunct German coleop- 



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