BY EDWARD NEWMAN. 285 



Hel. varicornis. Picea; antennis bast rufo-piceis, medio 

 nigiis, apice hrunneis. 



Pitchy black : mandibles, palpi, and first joint of antennae pitchy 

 red : second, third, and fourth joints, deep glossy black : the 

 remaining joints pilose, and light brown : crown of the head 

 with a smaller, but deeper indentation than the last : prothorax 

 black : all the margins unicolorous : elytra punctato-striated, 

 deep brown black : legs pitchy : the tibiae and tarsi somewhat 

 lighter : the two last segments of the abdomen beneath red. 

 (Length 5 lin. ; breadth 2 lin.) 



Taken, in considerable abundance, in the neighbourhood of 

 Nottingham, by Dr. Howitt. 



Hel. impressa. Nigra, micans; elytrorum striis 3 et 5 foveis 

 impressis. 



Black, glossy : mandibles, palpi, antennae, and legs sometimes slightly 

 rufous, but generally quite black : prothorax exceedingly nar- 

 row, and attenuated posteriorly : the elytra are striated, much 

 depressed, and indented with irregular foveae on the third and fifth 

 striae from the suture. (Length 5| lin. ; breadth 2.) 



This is a remarkable insect, and not to be confounded with 

 any other; it has been supposed to be the H. Heegeri of 

 Dejean, but is distinct. Taken, in considerable abundance, by 

 Mr. Walker, in Scotland. 



Of the species of Helobia described by the Count Dejean, 

 under the names, Gyllenhalii, Nivalis, and Arctica, together 

 with H. Marshallana of Stephens, I have examined 172 

 specimens within the last month; and though I find the greatest 

 possible difference in size, colour, convexity of elytra, and 

 indentations in the striae, yet, as intermediate specimens 

 between either extremes are continually to be met with, it 

 seems impossible to determine how or where the line of demar- 

 cation is to be drawn. When on Snowdon, last summer, with 

 ray friends, Christy and Doubleday, we took all these supposed 

 species within a few yards of each other, and quite a sufficient 

 number of intervening ones to make as many more such 

 species. 



