72 THE entomologist's record. 



OLEOPTERA. 



A note on the Coleopterous genus Dacne, Latr., with special 

 reference to Dacne fowleri, Joy. 



By Norman H. JOY, M.R.C.S., F.E.S. 

 In Prof. Hudson Beare's " article," " Eetrospect of a Coleopterist 

 for 1905," in the January number of The Record, he refers to my new 

 species Dacne fouieri as appearing "to be intermediate in its characters 

 between our other two species, D. humeraMs,F., and P. rufifrons, F." I 

 think it very necessary to correct this impression, which I hardly think a 

 careful study of my description gives. D. haweralis, F., and D. ri(ti- 

 frons, F., are so closely allied that I think it would be very rash to 

 introduce a species with intermediate characters. D. fowleri is only 

 intermediate between these two species in the colour of its thorax (the 

 colour of the legs and antennse are darker than in either), in structure 

 it is one of the most distinct members of the genus, and difiers more 

 widely from either /). luuneralis or D. rufifrons than these two species 

 differ from one another. I have obtained all the European members 

 of the genus from Herr Reitter. D. notata, Gmel., is a large and 

 distinct long-legged species. The other five members of the genus are 

 closely allied and can be separated into two groups by the shape of the 

 thorax and the width of its reflexed margin. In D. ritfifroiiH, D. 

 semirufnla, Rttr., and D. pontica, Bedel, the thorax has the sides almost 

 straight until quite near the anterior angles, and the reflexed margins 

 are narrow. In D. hiiiiieralis and IK fouieri the sides of the thorax are 

 gently rounded throughout, and the reflexed margins are much broader. 

 D. semirufnla I can only find difiers in colour from D. rufifrons : D. 

 pontica is also very closely allied to D. rufifrons, differing in colour, 

 and in being rather smaller and somewhat differently shaped. D. 

 fowleri difiers from all these and from D. hnmeralis in having distinctly 

 longer and more robust legs, and the margins of the thorax are even 

 broader than they are in D. hunieralis. The var. jekeli, Reitt., of D. 

 huiiieralis corresponds with the testaceous variety (? immature) of D. 

 rufifrons, and these two varieties, although quite alike in colour, can 

 be easily distinguished by the characters of the thorax given above. 



HoMALiuM c^suM AB. suBRUFicoRNE, N. AB. — In October, 1905, I 

 took a number of the ubiquitous Homaliiim caesum, Grav., from a 

 rotten Polyporus in Gibside, and on looking over them discovered what 

 I thought to be another species ; the antennse of this latter insect 

 being pitchy black, with the five basal joints of a clearly defined rufo- 

 testaceous colour, and thus difl'ering from the type form of caesum, 

 wherin the antennae are reddish and sometimes (though to no appreci- 

 able extent) lighter or darker at the base. Mr. Donisthorpe, to whom I 

 sent an example, thought it to be a form of R. caesum, and very kindly 

 forwarded it to M. Fauvel, who confirmed Mr. Donisthorpe's view. Mr. 

 Donisthorpe also said that the species recorded by the Rev. Theodore 

 Wood from Rannoch as H. monilicorne, Gyll. {Ent. Mo. Mag., 1904, p. 

 260), was the same as my Gibside capture. In the genus Homalium 

 the above noted antennal character {i.e., black with basaJ joints reddish) 

 though not of specific importance is recognised in several species {e.g., H. 

 septentrionis, Th.), and, in such species, seems to be a wonderfully con- 

 stant character, seldom deviating either one way or the other. The insect 



