Common Beetles of our Countryside 



the British Islands is a certain slope of Snowdon, 

 where it feeds on the mountain thyme ; another, 

 Phytophagous beetle called Adimonia tanaceti (the 

 Adimonia of the tansy, although in these mountain 

 valleys it has not much to do with tansy) Fig. 16, 

 Plate VI., occurs, but is not often visible. It is of 

 a deep black, 8 to 10 mm. long, not very convex but 

 deeply punctured all over, so that it looks rather dull 

 with traces of smooth-raised lines down the elytra, 

 the thorax small and much contracted in front, with 

 an irregular surface, antennae and legs rather longer 

 and quite black. This beetle, as we have said, is not 

 under ordinary circumstances very obvious, but if 

 there should happen such heavy summer rain that the 

 mountain brooks overflow and sweep over the valley 

 slopes, then in the debris of such a flood this beetle 

 is often found abundantly. 



So much for our Alpine species of Phytophaga. 

 There are also two species of the group LamelUcornia, 

 which may fairly be described as mountain beetles, 

 both members of genera we have previously met 

 with. One is a Gcotmpcs (see Plate A, Fig. 8), 

 those large blue-black shining beetles which are so 

 fond of flying about on summer evenings ; it is named 

 Geotrupcs vernalis (the Geotrupes of the spring), 

 Fig. 8, Plate B, rather smaller than the common 

 species of Geotrupes, being only about 12 mm. long, 

 and is to be distinguished from G. sylvaticus, another 

 Geotrupes of the same size by its smoother surface. 

 There is one other small member of the genus which 



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