NEW BRITISH SPECIES, ETC., IN 1869. 85 



113. Stenus ruralis, Er., Gen. et Spec. Staph., 697; 



E. C. Rye, 1. c. 

 Shephej'di, Crotch. 

 Mr. Crotch's insect is stated by Gemminger and v. Harold, 

 Cat. Col., torn, ii (I do not know on what ground), to be a 

 female of ruralis^ Er. ; from which it differs, according to 

 description, in having the basal joint of its palpi yellow in- 

 stead of black (an apparently trivial character, but of great 

 value in this genus), though agreeing in the sparing punc- 

 tuation of its abdomen. Mr. Crotch's insect, moreover, has 

 been returned as a new species by Dr. Kraatz, to whom 

 ruralis could not fail to be known. 



114. Stenus pallitarsis, Kirby, Notes and Coll.; Ste- 



phens, 111. and Coll.; Wat. and Jans., 1. c, 18; 



E. C. Rye, 1. c. 



plantaris, Er.; Wat. Cat. 

 Gemminger & v. Harold, 1. c, give this apparently cor- 

 rect synonymy, adopted from Waterhouse & Janson's paper 

 by Mr. G. R. Crotch, in the 2nd Edition of his Catalogue. 

 I know of no reason to account for precedence being given 

 in Wat. Cat. to the subsequently described j^l^intaris, 



115. Stenus aceris, Boisd. et Lac, Faun. Ent. Par., i, 



445 ; E. C. Rye, 1. c, 4 ; Fauvel, L'Abeille, vi, 152. 

 annulatus, Crotch. 

 I have recorded the opinion of M. Fauvel that Mr. Crotch's 

 insect (omitted from Gemm. & v. Harold's Cat.) is the true 

 aceriSf Boisd. et Lac, — a species generally considered 

 synonymous with impressus, Germ., but given as distinct 

 by de Marseul (1866), and Gemminger and v. Harold. 

 According to M. Fauvel, our impressus is his pyrenceuSj 



