110 RHYNCHOPHORA. [Bracliytai'sus. 



BRACHYTARSUS, Schonherr. 



This genus contains upwards of twenty species, of which nine are 

 found in Europe and the remainder in North America, Siberia and 

 Brazil : they are small, short, thickset insects, which vary considerably 

 in size and colour; the antennae are short, with distinct three-jointed 

 club, and the tibiae are stout and dilated towards apex ; the thorax at 

 base is sinuate on either side and has no transverse keel before base ; the 

 larvae, as has been observed above, are parasitic on certain species of 

 Coccus, and undergo their transformations under the dry skin or cocoon 

 of the females; the larva of B. fasdatus has been found parasitic on 

 Lecanium genevense on the white-thorn, and on Pulvinaria carpini on 

 the hornbeam : it has also been found with Cocci on Spircea salicifolia ; 

 the larva of B. varius has been found under the cocoon of Lecanium 

 racemosum (= abietu) on the pine.* 



I. Stride coarse ; lateral border of thorax marked through- 

 out ; prevailing colour of ely traKmck-red B. FASCIATUS, Forst. 



II. Striae comparatively fine ; lateral border of thorax 

 marked towards posterior angles only ; prevailing colour 



of elytra pitchy-black B. VAEIUS, F. 



B. fasciatus, Forst. (scabrosus, F.). Short oval, convex, dull ; 

 head black, rather large, with eyes prominent, rugosely punctured ; 

 thorax black, transverse, with the sides rounded, and narrowed in front, 

 the lateral border marked throughout, and the posterior angles somewhat 

 strongly produced, punctuation rugose; elytra reddish, variegated with 

 black and whitish oblong spots, scutellary region fuscous, punctured 

 striae coarse, interstices finely rugose ; antennae and legs black; the 

 colour is somewhat variable, the dark patches being larger in some 

 specimens than in others. L. 3-4 mm. 



In decaying white-thorn and elm j local, but sometimes found in abundance. 

 Lee (Kent), Richmond, Highgnte, Peckham, Weybridge, Chobham, Putney, 

 Camberwell, Ripley, Wimbledon, Forest Hill (where Mr. Champion once took it in 

 the greatest profusion in white-thorn blossom in May) ; Hertford ; Dover ; Ports- 

 mouth (out of decayed furze) ; Wood Uitton, Cambridge ; Weston, Oxon ; North- 

 ampton; Swansea; Llangollen ; Cannock Chase; Repton ; Bretby Wood near 

 Reptou ; Barton Moss, Cheshire; Nocton near Lincoln. 



B. varius, F. (variegatus, Fourc.). Very like the preceding, but 

 easily distinguished by the much finer striae of the elytra and the fact 

 that the lateral border of the thorax is marked towards posterior angles 

 only, as well as by the colour, which is black with ashy lines on the 

 thorax and ashy subquadrate or oblong patches on the interstices of the 

 elytra ; the markings on the thorax are, however, very often rubbed 

 and scarcely apparent; the thorax, too, is longer and the second joint 



* Mr. R. Newstead, Curator of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, has quite recently 

 (August, 1890) sent me a specimen of S. varius with the following remark : " I have 

 just bred it from a new Coccid (Lecanium distinguendum, Douglas), which I discovered 

 this year at Delamere Forest on Vaccinium" 



