The Beetles of the Downs 



mixed herbage of such a locality as this. There is, for 

 instance, L. pratensis (the Longitarsus of the fields), one 

 of whose food plants is probably plaintain. It is quite 

 a common beetle, only i to ij mm. long, the head 

 black, the thorax usually reddish yellow, and the elytra 

 straw coloured, with the sutural line (that is, the median 

 line of the back) faintly reddish, the punctuation weak 

 and diffuse, the legs yellow with the hinder femora 

 darker. 



This is, however, a very variable species as regards 

 colour, one of its forms, which very often occurs, in 

 which the thorax is brown, sometimes nearly black, is 

 known as collaris. Other names, now discarded, have 

 been given to other slightly differing forms, but there is 

 but one species, L. pratensis, and that, with all its 

 variations, is often exceedingly abundant in the late 

 summer on the rough herbage of the Down side. 



Then, if we can find any plants of Hemp Agrimony 

 or Yarrow, we may be sure of another of these Longitarsi, 

 that is L. succineus. This is another very small species, 

 less than 2 mm. in length, of a pale straw colour almost 

 concolorous, with the final joints of the antennae and 

 the hind femora slightly darker, both legs and antennae 

 being plainly longer in proportion to its size than in most 

 other members of the genus, the punctuation feeble and 

 confused. The small size, uniform colour, and food 

 plant (always some species of Composite) make this 

 species readily distinguishable. 



But another of these leaping beetles is sure, sooner or 

 later, to attract our attention. It is very much larger 



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