96 SERRICORNIA. 



M. pimctollneatna, Pel. (nit/e.r, F.; Ectinus aferriinus, 

 Ac.). Rather broad, subcylindrical, convex, black, dull r clothed with 

 tine and rather thin greyish pubescence; head and thorax coarsely and 

 very thickly punctured, antennae black, rather short and stout, pubescent, 

 second and third joints short, the third, however, longer than the second; 

 thorax about as broad as long, with sides subparallel behind, rounded 

 and gradually narrowed in front, more rounded in female than in male, 

 with a narrow raised central line and traces of a broad central furrow at 

 base, posterior angles straight, sharply prominent and carinate; scu- 

 telluni quadrate, thickly punctured; elytra subparallel, very gradually 

 narrowed behind, more dilated in female than in male, with rather 

 coarse punctured striae, interstices plainly punctured and somewhat 

 rugose; legs black, tibiae and tarsi sometimes reddish. L. 11-13 mm. 



Sandy places; at roots of grass, See..; not common; Wimbledon; Pegwell Bay 

 (Matthews); Deal (where it has been taken by many collectors in some numbers) ; 

 Dover (C. G. Hall) ; Stephens records it from Twickenham, Swansea, and Windsor. 



1*1. rufipes, Herbst. (fulvipes, Herbst. and Steph., nee Gyll.; bicolor, 

 F.). Elongate, pitchy black or pitchy brown, with the thorax often reddish 

 at margins, upper surface clothed with fine greyish pubescence, which 

 is rather long on the head and thorax, and shorter on the elytra; head 

 thickly punctured, antennae rather long, pubescent, ferruginous, varying 

 a little in the sexes, with second and third joints short; thorax about as 

 long as or a little longer than broad, more thickly punctured at sides 

 than on disc, with sides rounded and narrowed in front, posterior angles 

 projecting and strongly carinate; scutellum oblong, depressed, thickly 

 punctured; elytra three times as long as thorax, gradually narrowed to 

 apex, with rather weak, but distinctly punctured, striae, interstices finely 

 punctured; legs ferruginous. L. 10-16 mm. 



Male with the thorax narrower and less rounded at sides, the third 

 joint of the antennae longer, and the elytra more gradually and strongly 

 narrowed to apex and less parallel; the pubescence also of the antennae 

 is longer and thinner than in the female. 



In rotten wood ; frequently on the wing ; rather common and generally dis- 

 tributed throughout the greater part of England ; Scotland, local, Solway, Forth, 

 Tuy, and Dee districts ; Ireland, near Dublin, local. 



M. castanipes, Payk. (obscnrus, F.; fulvipes, Gyll., nee Herbst.). 

 Larger and broader than the preceding, and with the elytra longer, three 

 and a half times as long as the thorax; the average colour also appears 

 to be lighter; the sides of the thorax are less evenly rounded, the striae 

 of the elytra are stronger, and the interstices more strongly punctured; 

 the male has the thorax less strongly narrowed in front and the elytra 

 less acuminate behind; the lateral margins of the thorax are subangulate 

 in both sexes; the species is very closely allied to M. rufipes, and in 

 many collections is represented merely by one sex of the latter species. 



