194 BHYNCHOPHORA. [EUSOVIUS. 



Africa, and Northern and Central Asia ; one only occurs in Britain and 

 it requires further confirmation before it can be regarded as really in- 

 digenous ; the members of the genus have somewhat the facies of 

 Polydrusus^ from which they may be known by the very convex ovate 

 elytra, short scrobes and emarginate rostrum. 



B. ovulum, 111. About the size of Polydrusus sericeus, slender, black, 

 clothed with yellowish-green, slightly metallic, round scales, which aro 

 sometimes more yellow on the alternate interstices of the elytra ; antennae 

 with the scape and base of the first joint of the f uniculus ferruginous ; 

 rostrum narrower than the head ; eyes convex ; scutellum Avanting ; 

 elytra oval with close-lying pubescence ; anal segment of abdomen 

 pubescent ; femora with a spiniform tooth, that on the posterior pair 

 being very feeble, tarsi with the first joint elongate. L. 6-7 f mm. 



On Achillea millefolium, among grass, &c. ; extremely rare ; " Taken by Mr. 

 Edleston, at Grange " (Ent. Monthly Mag. viii. 83). The species has been recorded 

 from Guestling, near Hastings, but Mr. Bennett, who recorded it, tells me that his 

 specimen was wrongly named, and must be referred to another species; 2?. ovulum, 

 therefore, appears to require further confirmation as British. 



SCIAPHILUS, Steph. 



In this genus the head is narrower than the thorax, the eyes scarcely 

 prominent, the antennae long and slender, and the scrobes strongly 

 deflexed ; the thorax is transverse and the elytra are oval ; the whole 

 upper surface is thickly covered with grey scales and strong outstanding 

 scale-like setae, which are' more evident on the elytra; the limits of the 

 genus are not as yet properly defined ; about thirty species are enumer- 

 ated in the Munich catalogue and about twenty in the European catalogue 

 of Heyden, Eeitterand Weise, but some of these most probably will have 

 to be placed near Polydrusus ; only one species occurs in Britain. 



S. muricatus, F. (asperatus, Bonsd.). Black or fuscous-black, 

 thickly covered with scales, which vary in colour from a dirty grey to 

 yellowish-grey and sometimes show a slight metallic reflection ; antenme 

 red with the first and second joints of f uniculus elongate; rostrum glabrous 

 at apex, with a Y-shaped impression; scutellum very small, but distinct ; 

 thorax short, subcylindrical ; elytra oval, with the alternate interstices 

 slightly raised and a row of setae on each interstice, and with rather fine 

 but distinct punctured strife, apex deflexed and acuminate; all the femora 

 with a small sharp tooth. L. 4-6 mm. 



Male with the tibias armed with a rather distinct hook. 



In woods and hedges ; by beating and sweeping ; often in moss ; somewhat local, 

 but more or less common and generally distributed from the Midland districts south- 

 wards ; rarer further north ; Manchester district, general but rnre; Liverpool ; North- 

 umberland and Durham district; Scotland, occasional in moss and herbage, Solway, 

 Tweed and Forth districts ; Ireland, Dublin, Waterford, Galway, Armagh, aiid 

 probably general. 



