358 CLAVICORNIA. [Dermestes. 



greyish pubescence ; head thickly and rather coarsely punctured, densely 

 pubescent, antennae dark, with club black or pitchy-black ; thorax 

 convex, strongly narrowed in front, transverse, mottled with black and 

 grey pubescence, and with four spots of yellowish pubescence, two at 

 apex and two behind middle, which are not very distinct except iu 

 fresh specimens ; scutellum thickly clothed with yellowish hairs ; elytra 

 black, covered with mottled and marmorate black arid grey pubescence, 

 the latter more dense at base ; legs brown, femora ringed with white near 

 base ; under-side clothed with long whitish-yellow pubescence, abdomen 

 with a row of black spots on each side, last segment black, marked 

 with three white spots at base ; male with a tuft of bristles on both third 

 and fourth segments of abdomen. L. 7-8 mm. 



In dead birds, moles, &c. ; common and rather generally distributed in the London 

 and southern districts, and not uncommon in the Midlands, but rarer further north ; 

 York, Liverpool, Northumberland and Durham district, &c. ; Scotland, very scarce, 

 Forth district only. 



D. undulatus, Brahm. (tessellafus, W. C., nee F.). Closely allied 

 to the preceding, but on the average smaller, and easily distinguished by 

 the yellowish or yellowish-brown pubescence of the head, thorax, and 

 base of elytra, and the reddish or pitchy-red antennae ; the under-side is 

 thickly clothed with wLitish pubescence, but the last segment is furnished 

 with two white spots at base instead of three as in D. murinus ; in shape 

 the two species much resemble one another except that the thorax is 

 longer in D. undulatus. L. 6-7 mm. 



In dead birds, fish, &c. ; usually found on the coast ; local ; Whitstable, Sheeruess, 

 Southend, Folkestone, Dover, Deal, Hastings, Shoreham, Brighton, Devon, Swansea ; 

 it does not occur in the north of England or in Scotland. 



D. laz'darius, L. Oblong, subcylindrical, black or pitchy, clothed 

 with short and sparing recumbent pubescence, elytra with a broad light 

 dentate band, extending from base nearly to middle, composed of thick 

 yellowish-grey pubescence, with three dark spots arranged transversely 

 on each elytron; head moderately coarsely but closely punctured, antennae 

 pitchy or pitchy-red ; thorax with sides rounded behind and narrowed in 

 front, very thickly punctured, black, with small spots of yellowish 

 pubescence, lateral margins visible from above ; in all our other species 

 they are not visible from above ; scutellum black ; elytra finely and 

 thickly punctured with traces of striae towards apex ; under-side black 

 with fine and not thick yellowish pubescence, without spots ; legs black 

 with yellowish-brown pubescence ; male with the third and fourth 

 segments of abdomen with a tuft of bristles on each ; size variable. 

 L. 6-12 mm. 



In hides, bacon, natural history specimens, dead animals, &c.; more local than is 

 generally supposed, but far too common ; it is rarer out of doors than iu houses, 

 warehouses, Ac. ; it appears to be generally distributed throughout England and 

 Wales, and probably Ireland, but Sharp records it as rare in Scotland in the Tweed, 

 Forth, Clyde, and Dec districts. 



