The Beetles of the Mountains 



and the tibiae (second joint), are yellow, and all the 

 rest black. 



Then there are two species of Quedius whose home 

 is this thick wet moss of the mountain streams ; one, Q. 

 auricomus (the golden-haired Quedius), Fig. 5, Plate VI., 

 which we should get nowhere else. It is only 4 to 5 

 mm. long, which is much below the average size of 

 a Quedius, in colour a shining bronze-black, and easily 

 recognisable because on the hind body below the elytra, 

 there are small patches of golden coloured hair (from 

 whence the beetle takes its name), one on each side 

 of each segment down to the apex ; the legs and antennae 

 are reddish, and the eyes very large, although not 

 protuberent after the manner of a Stenus, but the series 

 of tufts of golden hair is the characteristic feature of 

 the species, as no other British beetle is adorned in quite 

 a similar manner. 



The other Quedius is sometimes to be found in moss 

 by the side of lowland rivers, but is always more 

 abundant among the mountains. It is a little larger 

 than Q. auricomus, about 6 mm. long, and known as 

 Quedius umbrinus (the brown Quedius), Fig. n, Plate VI. 

 This species has no patches of golden pubescence it is 

 a shining brown-black all over, with the hind edges 

 of the elytra, the legs and the antennae reddish brown. 

 It may be distinguished from other species of 

 Quedius, some of which superficially resemble it rather 

 closely, by the strong and coarse punctuations of the 

 elytra, and as the others with which we might otherwise 

 confuse it never occur in the wet moss of a mountain 



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