46 THE entomologist's bkoord. 



^OLEOPTERA. 



Notes on the genus Meloe. 



By the Eev. THEODOKE WOOD, F.E.S. 

 As I have been fortunate enough to meet with five out of the seven 

 British species of Meloe, a few notes on this genus may, perhaps, be of 

 service to other coleopterists. 



1. M. proscarabaeus. — This is the only species of the genus which 

 can be considered as at all common. It is plentiful in most districts 

 in March and April, sometimes abounding on grassy banks. I have 

 seen it running about in the hot sunshine on the cliff-side overlooking- 

 Pegwell Bay, with an activity almost weird in a Meloe. The next 

 species is the only one with which it can by any possibility be con- 

 fused, and from that its even thorax and deep bluish-black colour will 

 at once distinguish it. Its variation in size is extreme — from 12mm.- 

 42mm. A well marked variety (var. cyanens, Muls.), with purplish 

 head and thorax, finer punctuation, and the base of the thorax almost 

 straight, is found in the Isle of Man, and has also been taken near 

 Birmingham by Mr. W, G. Blatch. 



2. M. violaceus, Marsh. — Local, and seldom common. It may be 

 recognised at once by its bright blue or violet-blue colour, and by the 

 deep transverse impression at the base of the thorax, which looks as 

 though it had been deen dented while soft by the thumb-nail. I have 

 taken it at Baldock, in Hertfordshire ; on the wooded slope overlook- 

 ing Brothers' Water, near UllsAvater ; and on the high road between 

 Inversnaid and Loch Katrine, in Scotland. Canon Fowler, in his 

 British Coleoptera, gives "early spring" as its time of appearance. 

 My own specimens, however, were taken between May 15th and July 

 5th, and I have even heard of its capture in August. In both this and 

 the preceding species the antennte of the male appear to be deformed, 

 the sixth and seventh joints being dilated, compressed, and bent some- 

 what strongly inwards. 



3. M. autumnaUs, 01. — Very rare. I have never met with the 

 species, and know of no recent captures. Stephens gives Dartford, 

 Exmouth, and Tavistock as localities, and Dr. Power took it at Cam- 

 bridge, while Newman records it from Ramsgate. It is quite a small 

 insect, never seeming to be larger than the smallest examples of M. 

 proscarabaeus, and appears, as its name implies, in autumn. 



4. M. cicatricosus, Leach. — A fine, sturdily built insect, with a large 

 triangular head. The colour is black, with a slight tinge of blue ; the 

 head and thorax are coarsely punctured, with the interstices rugose, 

 and the elytra are closely set with flat shining tubercles. It is very 

 local, and as a rule is decidedly scarce, although Mr. Champion once 

 met with it near Ramsgate in great profusion. I have taken about 

 twenty specimens in all in the cuttings in the cliffs near Margate on 

 warm sunny days in March and the early part of April. It is useless 

 to look for it unless the sun is brightly shining. It has also been 

 taken at Southend, Dover, and Deal. 



5. M. variegatus, Donov. — One of our rarest and quite our most 

 beautiful species. Its home seems to be in the Isle of Thanet, the 

 only locality outside that district being Dover, where it has been taken 

 by Mr. C. G. Hall. Stephens recorded it from Thanet, but it then 

 disappeared until March 1882, when I met with three examples close 



