COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



in some specimens are even fused into each other r 

 there is no difficulty in recognising the insect. 



OUR next example of the Hydradephaga is Halt- 

 plus variegates^ an insect which is shown in the 

 accompanying illustration. 



Like the last species, this is a pretty little Beetle, 

 and exceedingly variable in its colour, so variable 

 indeed that it has been described 

 by the same writer under the 

 name of at least two species. It 

 is a very small insect, not quite 

 one-sixth of an inch in length. 

 Its usual colour is as follows : 

 The head is dark brick-red, 

 deepening into blackish-brown on 

 the top. The thorax is paler than 

 the head. The elytra are rather 

 convex, sharply pointed, deep 

 reddish-brown in colour, and have 

 some blackish spots near the 

 margin. This variety is common ; but there is one 

 which is much rarer, and in this the general hue is 

 greyish-yellow, and the whole insect altogether lighter 

 in colour. The brightest-coloured specimens are 

 found in rather swift streams running through a 

 gravelly soil. . 



There are twelve British species belonging to this 

 genus. 



Haliplus variegatus. 



HAVING now gone through the Dyticidae, we 

 come to the second family of the Hydradephaga 



