Cneorhinus and Strophosomus. 307 
tion, is certainly a very small immature variety of his obesus with 
the elytra clouded with fuscous spots, and the body and legs pale 
rufous ; Cure. nigricans of Kirby’s manuscript and collection is 
decidedly a dark variety of Curc. tessellatus of Marsh. ; Stroph. 
rufipes, asperifoliarum, cognatus and nebulosus of Steph. ‘ Illus- 
trations’ are all varieties of this protean insect. I sent fifteen 
specimens including varieties to Schénherr, who referred them to 
Cure. obesus, Marsh., Coryli, Payk., Gyll. and Schénh. It is so 
extremely variable in size (length 13—24 lines) and in the colour 
of the scales, that scarcely two individuals out of many hundreds 
can be found exactly alike. I have found it very abundantly on 
its first appearance in the middle of May, and again about the 
beginning of September, from which it seems to be double- 
brooded ; and specimens frequently occur at those periods with 
the body and legs rufous, densely clothed with bright scales of 
various shades of coppery-red and golden-yellow or fuscous, or 
with cinereous and silvery-white or fuscous, rarely with shinmg 
brassy-green and coppery-red scales, beautifully and irregularly 
variegated or nebulose, or with pale spots on the punctures of 
the elytra; older speciniens found in July and August have the 
body black, the legs dusky ferruginous or the femora and tibiz 
piceous; and with the scales of an uniform dull gray or brown 
and much obscured by earthy matter ; the general form of the 
elytra is nearly oval, but it has a tendency, particularly in large 
specimens, to become broader in proportion to the length and 
more convex; but these varieties in a long series are closely linked 
together by a regular gradation from one form to another, and 
by the general character of the sculpture, so that no separation 
can be made. 
I have found this insect very plentifully on low underwood and 
amongst thick herbage in Bishop’s Wood, near Hampstead, and 
in Birch Wood, likewise in Yorkshire. 
3. Strophosomus fulvicornis (Curt. in litt.), Walt. 
Black or piceous, sparingly or rather densely clothed with ci- 
nereous and fuscous scales: Head very short, transverse, longi- 
tudinally rugulose, with a deep lineolet in the centre ; eyes ex: 
tremely prominent ; rostrum short, broadest at the base, distinctly 
longer and a little narrower than the head, triangularly emargi- 
nated at the apex above, transversely strigated and deeply foveo- 
lated at the base, with a very broad and rather deep longitudinal 
furrow, which is carinulated in the middle. Antenne as long as 
the head and thorax, fulvous and finely pubescent. Thorax short, 
subquadrate, the base and apex truncate, nearly of equal breadth, 
moderately rounded at the sides, convex above, rather coarsely 
