Common Beetles of our Countryside 



Bembidium, but its palpi will at once show that it is 

 not one of that genus. In shape it is precisely like the 

 previous species and like it varies somewhat in colour, 

 but whereas B. cognatus is always more or less patchy, 

 part dark and part light, this little similis is either 

 quite light or quite dark or quite intermediate in colour. 

 In the darkest specimens there is a line or stripe 

 down the centre of the elytra which is always lighter; 

 in both species legs, antennae and palpi are reddish- 

 yellow, the thorax smooth with a median groove, and 

 the elytra plainly striated, but not punctured except 

 along the striae. B. similis is widely distributed wherever 

 heather grows, but B. cognatus is one of the true 

 moorland species. 



If we search carefully among the ling and heather, 

 or shake it over paper, since we brought no sweep net, 

 there are two new beetles which will probably be 

 revealed. One belongs to the group Phytophaga, the 

 other to the Rhynchophora ; the name of the first is 

 Lochmaa suturalis (the Lochmaea with the marked 

 suture) Fig. 9, Plate V. Hitherto the only beetle we 

 have taken near this genus was a Luperus (Plate I., 

 Fig. n); it is about 5 mm. long, oblong in shape, 

 with long antennae and rather soft leathery elytra, 

 the thorax much broader than long, with a central 

 groove and distinct depressions on each side. In colour 

 it varies from light shining olive brown to almost black, 

 and the suture or central line where the elytra join 

 is always black, the whole surface except the front 

 and middle of the thorax is coarsely punctured, the 



