The Beetles of the Moorlands 



expeditions. This is a dark brown insect, nearly black 

 with a distinct bronze reflection ; it is 5 to 6 mm. in 

 length, in shape a long oval gradually narrowing to 

 the apex with a large convex thorax, slightly rounded 

 at the sides with the hinder angles drawn out into a 

 kind of spine on each side which fit the base of the 

 elytra so that the outline of thorax and elytra is con- 

 tinuous and nearly straight. Both are finely punctured 

 and covered with a very fine scanty down, and the 

 latter are faintly striated ; the antennae are black, 

 short and serrate, that is, slightly toothed ; the legs 

 reddish. There are six British species in the genus 

 Cryptohypnus, and one of them by exceptional good luck 

 we might find in the shingle of our stream ; it is called 

 C. maritimus, like riparius, but rather smaller and 

 narrower and more of a dead black colour. The other 

 four species are all very much smaller, 2 to 3 mm. 

 long. They too occur in the shingle of streams, two 

 of them in Scotland only, but we might easily find 

 the other two in the finer gravel of such a brook as 

 this. One is C. dermestoides, which is entirely black dull 

 and slightly pubescent, and this has a varietal form 

 known as var. quadrigultatus, which bears two small 

 obscure yellow spots, one at the base and one at the 

 apex of each elytra. The other is C. quadripustulatus, 

 which is very similar to this spotted form of dermes- 

 toides, only the yellow spots are much larger and 

 more conspicuous; this latter species can sometimes 

 be taken by sweeping in damp grassy places in the 

 south the other with its variety is more distinctly 



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