24 HYDROPHILID^. 



regarded as very likely to occur in Britain, has only comparatively 

 recently been recorded by Mr. R. S. Mitford (Ent. Record xix. 1907, 

 254) as having been taken on the North Essex coast by Mr. W. H. 

 Harwood of Colchester. It may be distinguished from F. sciUellaris 

 (nigroceneus) by being of a somewhat longer and narrower form, with 

 the antennae, palpi and legs ferruginous or yellowish-red (in P. scutel- 

 laris the antennse, palpi and legs are darker, and the last joint of the 

 maxillax-y palpi is quite dark or only reddish at the base), and by having 

 the intermediate tibite scarcely pubescent to the middle, whereas in 

 F. scutellaris they are pubescent beyond the middle ; the mesosternum 

 moreover presents points of difierence which are, however, hard to 

 discriminate. F. (eneus is usually supposed to be the smaller of the two 

 insects, but as a matter of fact it is, on the avei'age, rather the larger. 



The genus Faracymus is widely spread over the Palpearctic and 

 Nearctic regions ; according to Ganglbauer the European species have 

 the antennfe 0-jointed, whereas in the American species they are from 

 7- to 9- jointed. 8harp (Ent. Mo. Mag. xxi. 112) is of opinion that F. 

 nigi'oceneus and /''. ccneus may very likely have to be placed in separate 

 genera, the former having nine joints to the autennte and the latter 

 only eight, but he is not quite satisfied on this point, as the antennfe 

 which he had mounted in balsam did not turn out very satisfactorily 

 as a preparation. It appears, however, to be evident that the number 

 of antennal joints do difier in the various species, and it is open to any 

 author to form new genera if he considers this point of sufficient 

 importance to outAveigh the similarity of the other characters. The 

 genus is most closely allied to Anaccena, from which it may be separated 

 by having the mesosteinum strongly carinate or cristate before the inter- 

 mediate coxfe, and the posterior femora entirely glabrous and shining. 

 The character which I have before given depending on the thorax 

 being bordered or not bordered at base is by no means an evident one. 



ANAC^NA, Thomson. 



Mr. James Edwards, in an article on the British species of 

 Anacfena (Ent. Mo. Mag. xlv. (2 Ser. xx.) 1909, 169), introduces A. ovata, 

 Reiche as a separate species. A. ovata is only regarded as a synonym 

 of A. limhata, F., by Ganglbauer (Kiif. Mittel Europ. iv. 240), and 

 in the last E)iropean catalogue it is placed as one of ten or twelve 

 synonyms of that variable species. 



Mr. Edwai'ds gives a table of our species, which we quote, adopting 

 the arrangement we usually follow in our tables : 



I. Mesosternum simple. Insect broad-oval, very 



convex, pitch-black Avith the sides of the 



thorax and elytra conspicuously pale . .A, globulus, Payk. 



II. Mesosternum produced into a sharp triangular 



more or less backwardly-directed tooth in 

 front of the middle coxae. 



