6 4 



COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



This is a very common insect, and yet Mr. E. A. 

 Smith, who has long given much attention to the 

 Brachelytra, tells me that he cannot 

 fix upon any special locality for it, 

 having found it indifferently in sand- 

 pits, on palings, and similar places. 

 Indeed, the whole family is a very 

 bewildering and troublesome one to 

 the investigator, and would require 

 the uninterrupted labour of several 

 years before it could be thoroughly 

 mastered. 



Homalota brunnea. 



THE family of the Tachyporidae 

 comes next in order. These Beetles have the head 

 usually sunk deeply in the thorax, without any dis- 

 tinct neck. The spiracles of the prothorax are con- 

 spicuous, and the antennae are before the eyes, on the 

 margin of the forehead. The males have the basal 

 joints of the tarsi dilated. All these Beetles are un- 

 rivalled for their speed, and in consequence of this 

 characteristic the name of Tachyporida, or 'swift- 

 footed,' has been given to them. 



OUR first example of this family is a Beetle called 

 Boletobius atricapillus. The insects of this genus live 

 in fungi of different kinds, on which account they are 

 called by the name of Boletobius, or ' fungus-inhabit- 

 ing.' Others are seen as they appear when running 

 in and out of the gills of a mushroom. In this genus, 

 which contains four species, the body narrows to a 

 point behind, the head is long, the palpi slender, and 



