Common Beetles of our Countryside 



black. Notiophilus palustris (meaning much the same), 

 which is another species we might also take up here, 

 is a little smaller, the thorax is shorter, more rounded 

 in front and contracted behind than in aquaticus, 

 and the first two or three joints of the antennae 

 as well as the tibiae are more reddish than in that 

 species. 



Our next beetle is one which one never finds except 

 among the heather, but even so we might search for 

 it in vain on the heaths of the south, although the other 

 member of the genus, which is Cymindis, is equally 

 attached to the chalk and can occasionally be taken 

 on Box Hill, in Surrey. Our heather species is called 

 Cymindis vaporariorum (a name whose allusiveness 

 although given by Linnaeus is difficult to explain), 

 Fig. 14, Plate V. It belongs to the same section 

 of the Geodephaga as the Brachinus, the Blechrus and 

 the Demetrias taken on the downs (Plate IV., Figs. 18, 

 4 and 9), which were all characterized it will be 

 remembered by the elytra not quite covering the hind 

 body, so that the apex of the abdomen projects just 

 beyond them. This is a medium sized beetle, 8 to 10 

 mm. long, oblong and very flat ; the colour is very 

 dark brown, almost black except the base of the elytra, 

 which is dull rust colour ; the thorax is longer than 

 broad, and very much contracted behind, and the 

 whole surface head, thorax and elytra is thickly 

 and coarsely punctured ; the legs and antennae are 

 rust red. Sometimes in the early spring this is quite 

 a common beetle under stones among the heather, while 



