184 SERRICORNIA. \Kedobia. 



Faversham, Dsrenth Wood, West Wickham, Coorabe Wood, Forest Hill, Mickleham, 

 Dulwich, Caterham, Weybridg.', Peckbnm ; Tonbridpe ; Shipley, near Horsham ; 

 Harwich ; Brandon, Suffolk ; Deal ; Hastings ; Glunvilles Wootton ; Devon ; Bath ; 

 Coleshill ; Knowle; Needwood ; Shrewsbury; Repton ; Sudbrook and Nocton, near 

 Lincoln ; Llangollen ; Scarborough ; Foxhill, near Manchester ; it is not recorded 

 by Dr. Sharp from Scotland, but Stephens mentions it as taken at Jedburgh ; it is 

 possible that this may be in error, as it does not appear to have occurred in the 

 Northumberland and Durham district. 



MEZIU1VI, Curtis. 



The species belonging to this and the succeeding genus may very 

 easily be known by their curious appearance; as Professor Westwood 

 observes, they might almost be mistaken when at rest for drops of 

 blood ; the elytra are globose and connate, and extremely smooth and 

 glossy, the antennae approximate at base, stout and strongly pubescent 

 or squamose, and the legs long and robust, with the femora clavate at 

 apex ; in Mezium the thorax is clothed with thick yellowish pubescence, 

 a character which at once distinguishes it from Gibbium ; the genus 

 which we are now considering contains about half-a-dozen species, of 

 which three occur in Europe, and the remainder have been described 

 from Algeria and North and South America; they are found in various 

 substances, but appear mostly to frequent seeds of various kinds, and 

 also the hair or integument of animals ; a considerable number are 

 recorded as having been once found in an old opera hat, and they are 

 somewhat injurious occasionally to collections of insects; the larva, in 

 spite of the peculiar appearance of the perfect insect, does not appear to 

 differ from those belonging to the other genera of the family ; the pupa, 

 as mentioned by Westwood (Classification, i. 272), is enclosed in a 

 cocoon formed of silky matter, mixed with the excrements of the 

 larva. 



1*1. affine, Boield. (sulcatum, Sturm, nee F.). Of a lighter or 

 darker reddish-brown colour, with the head and thorax, as well as the 

 antennae and legs, clothed with thick and strong yellowish pubescence, 

 a point that will at once distinguish the species from Gibbium ; antennae 

 rather long and robust, with the last joint stouter and less acuminate 

 than in the last-mentioned genus; thorax with four more or less distinct 

 raised ridges, and the posterior margin thickened; elytra narrowed 

 towards base, but much widened behind, very smooth, shining, and 

 glabrous, and much inflated; legs long and rather stout, with the apex 

 of the femora clavate, last joint of tarsi narrower than the preceding. 

 L. 2-3 mm. 



In jeeds, and various kinds of decaying animal and vegetable refuse; not common, 

 but it has occasionally occurred abundantly in one or two localities ; London, old 

 houses (Dr. Power has taken it in Burton Crescent) ; Swansea ; Manchester (in dry- 

 sal ten* warehouses) ; Scotland, not indigenous ; " Edinburgh, among a consignment 

 of Decapods from Australia," Murray's Oat. 



