SOARAByEID^. 139 



A. scybalarius, F., var. nigricans, Muls. (Lamellicornes, 1 ed. 

 1842, 179). This insect has the elytra entii-ely dark, with the excep- 

 tion of the first and second interstices on each side of the suture, which 

 are lurid-testaceous for part of their length ; the extreme apex is also 

 dark testaceous. 



Wallasey, Cheshire (Bailey) ; Deal (Priske) ; the latter specimen 

 (with the description) was recorded by Mr. J. H. Jennings (Eut. Mo. 

 Mag. xliv. (2 Ser. xix.), 1908, 155). 



In my experience A. scybalarius varies considerably. I have one 

 specimen with the elytra almost entirely testaceous, another quite 

 dark with the sutural interstices in part light testaceous, and others 

 varying from the type form. 



A. depressus, Kug., var. nigripes. Staph. (111. Brit. Mand. iii. 

 201). This is the black variety of the species ; the type form has 

 scai-let elytra and is much the rarer insect. 



I have added the above varieties, as they have appeared in some of 

 our catalogues ; but a large number of further varieties might be 

 admitted; the most variable of our species is, of course, A. luridus, F., 

 the elytra varying from entirely deep black to altogether testaceous, 

 and the intermediate forms being often very striking. 



DJASTICTUS, Mulsant. 



Diastictus, Muls. (Lamell. p. 319); Psammohvus, Heer. (Faun. 

 Col. Helv. i. 531, 2 (ex parte)); Psammodius, Er. (Naturg, der Ins. 

 Deutsch. 912 {ex partey). Thorax without a fringe of hairs at the 

 sides, and without transverse furrows on disc separated by raised 

 interstices ; metasternum with a triangular space in front of the 

 posterior coxse bounded by a raised line ; tarsal claws small and weak ; 

 posterior tarsi with the apical spurs narrow, and longer than the first 

 joint, which is feebly triangulai'. 



D. vulneratus, Gyll. (Ins. Suec. iv. 244, 7; Sturm., Faun. Germ, 

 i. 175, 64, Taf. 15, D). Somewhat smaller and more strongly convex 

 than Psammohms sidcicoUis, which it superficially resembles ; obovate, 

 of a pitchy colour, very slightly shining ; head reddish-brown in front, 

 thickly granulose ; antennae yellowish ; thorax a little narrower than 

 the elytra, transversely convex, with blunt anterior angles and Avith 

 the hind angles entirely rounded, thickly and coarsely punctured, 

 the punctures being often confluent, with more or less distinct 

 traces of a central furrow, and with a feebly impressed oblique 

 transverse furrow on the sides of the disc; elytra strongly convex, with 

 the punctured furrows becoming deeper behind, and the interstices 

 being more or less carinate ; legs brown, apical spvirs of the front tibise 

 in the male widened and almost lancet-shaped. L. 2| mm. 



Brandon, Suflblk, one specimen taken by Mr. Claude Morley in 

 June, 1902. Mr. Newber}^, in his note on the species (Ent. Mo. Mag. 

 xxxviii. (2 Ser. xiii.), 1902, 253) gives a useful table of the numerovis 

 small genera which come at the end of the Aphodiidte. 



