Mefcecus.~\ HETEROMERA. 83 



insect (which has not occurred in Britain) are, therefore, apparently totally different 

 to those of3f. paradoxus ; Professor West wood, however, is of opinion that the larva 

 mav after all be parasitic upon some other larva which resides iu the steins of the 

 Eryngium. 



M. paradoxus, L. ( v. apicalis, Gradl.). Moderately elongate, 

 rather dull, black, with the sides of the thorax broadly yellow, elytra 

 testaceous with the apex black ia niale, black in the female ; head 

 deflexed, almost flat, closely punctured, antennae varying in the sexes ; 

 thorax a little narrower in front than the head, produced in a strong 

 lobe over scutellum, with a very broad and deep central furrow, which 

 is smooth, sides and other parts closely punctured ; elytra very strongly 

 narrowed and divaricate towards apex, closely and somewhat asperately 

 punctured, with the shoulders well marked; legs black, elongate, spurs 

 of tibiae and claws red -or testaceous. L. 10-12 mm. 



Male with the elytra testaceous, black at apex, the antennae bipec- 

 tinate, the sixth segment of the abdomen conspicuous, and the anterior 

 femora obtusely toothed beneath in middle. 



Female with the elytra black, sometimes yellow at shoulders, the 

 antennae simply pectinate, and the abdomen yellow with the sixth seg- 

 ment not conspicuous. 



In the nests of Vespa vvlgaris and V. rvfa; rarely found on flowers ; rare ; Coomhe 

 Wood and Godstoue, Surrey (Stephens) ; Cambridge ; Netley ; Glanvilles Wootton, 

 very rare; Llangolleu ; Monmouth and Hereford district; Leoiuinster (Mrs. 

 Hutchinson) ; Redditch ; Repton ; Scarborough ; Selby, near Leeds; Northumbeilaud 

 and Durham district, not common ; Scotland, very rare, Clyde and Forth districts. 



ANTHICIDJE. 



The characteristics of this family, as here constituted, may be de- 

 scribed as follows : Head rather large, deflexed, strongly constricted at 

 some distance behind the eyes, which are elliptical and entire, and 

 rather coarsely granulated ; antennae filiform ; maxillary palpi with 

 the last joint securiform ; neck very small, punctiform ; thorax narrower 

 at base than elytra, with the sides not margined, narrowed towards 

 base ; elytra not striated, pygidium somewhat exposed ; abdomen com- 

 posed of five free ventral segments, the first being much longer than 

 the second ; posterior coxae somewhat distant, intermediate coxae almost 

 contiguous, but separated at apex ; tar^i with the penultimate joints 

 bilobed, claws simple ; species small. 



The lamily contains about a dozen genera and between four and five 

 hundred species ; of these, however, considerably more than half belong 

 to the genus Antlitcus ; they are very widely distributed throughout the 

 \vorld from Siberia to the Australian region ; they appear, however, to 

 occur in greater numbers in temperate than in tropical countries ; seven 

 genera, represented by about one hundred and fifty species, occur in 

 Europe ; of these two genera and ten species are found in Britain. 



G 2 



