68 COLEOPTERA. 



59. HoMALOTA SUB^NEA, Sharp, 1. c, 187 (described). 

 ? Atheta aquatica, Thorns. 



Occurs among moss, in wet places on the banks of Scotch 

 rivers, also sparingly in England. 



Allied to a. xanthoptera (Sharp), but distinguishable by 

 the darker colour and shorter apical joint of its antennae, the 

 obscure brassy colour of its head and thorax, and its more 

 strongly punctured and obscurely coloured elytra. 



60. HoMALOTA ^NEicoLLis, Sharp, 1. c, 189 (described). 

 This is certainly the insect known to us as the S. xanthop- 

 tera o1 Wat. Cat., Kirby's insect having been apparently in 

 error identified by Mr.Waterhouse with H.merdaria, Thorns., 

 Kr. This wrong identification (as in the case of ^. siilcifrons) 

 does not, of course, affect the validity of the species; but, as 

 Dr. Sharp, acting on a different basis to that employed as a 

 starting-point by Mr. Waterhouse in writing his Catalogue, 

 has with two exceptions abandoned the Stephensian species 

 as untenable, there seems little utility in attempting to revive 

 this one. 



61. HoMALOTA MERDARiA, Thoms., Ofv. Vet. Ac. Forh., 



1852, 141 ; id., Skand. Col, iii, 81 {Atheta) ; Kr., 



Ins. Deutschl., ii, 269. 



xanthoptera, G. R. Crotch, Cat. Col., Ed. 1 & 2 ; 



Sharp, 1. c, 190. 

 This insect is not (as far as my experience goes) nearly so 

 common as the preceding, from which it differs in being 

 rather larger and more robust, with darker and less distinctly 

 marked elytra, and lighter, longer and stouter antennae, of 

 which the apical joint is longer. 



