The Beetles of the Mountains 



both antennae and legs, which are dark red, are pro- 

 portionately shorter than in the species we have just 

 been examining. This species has been taken under 

 bark of trees near Glasgow, but it is almost always to 

 be found in moss on mountain tops. 



A few more beetles might be got out of this moss if 

 we devoted sufficient time to its disintegration ; there 

 is a little thing we might probably capture, a good deal 

 like the Acidota we have just taken but only about half 

 its size it is called Arpedium brachypterum (the 

 Arpedium with the short elytra), and is rather a prize, 

 as we are not likely to take it anywhere except on the 

 summits of high mountains. It is dark reddish-brown, 

 finely but distinctly punctured all over, rather narrow, 

 with short antennae and legs. Then there are sure to be 

 several species of those very small Brachelytra which 

 belong to that large genus called Homalota, a representa- 

 tive of which we have already taken among the shingle 

 of a moorland brook (see Plate V., Fig. i). The species 

 we are likely to find here are Homalota tibialis, H. 

 alpestris, H. islandica, and perhaps H. atramentaria, 

 but these are all difficult little species to make out, and 

 at the best will require a good compound microscope 

 and considerable study of the genus with the aid of a 

 modern text-book before we can be even approximately 

 sure of them. 



During our descent we may pick up a few more of the 

 same species of beetles that we discovered as we ascended 

 but probably nothing new unless by chance on one of 

 the lower slopes we meet with a dead grouse, rabbit, 



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