10 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



locality, and probably the economy *, of the species allied to Ci. 

 hybrida, having been so strangely blended together for want of 

 accurate discrimination, as exhibiting a striking instance of the 

 necessity of attending to comparatively trifling differences in the 

 examination of specimens obtained from diff'erent localities, and of 

 the caution to be observed in determining the question of specific 

 distinctions, as by hastily discarding an apparent species, and pro- 

 nouncing it to be merely a variety, we may run the hazard of com- 

 mitting a serious error, and thus necessarily interrupt the series of 

 affinities, and prove the justice of the poet's assertion, that 



" From Nature's chain^ whatever link you strike^ 

 Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.' 



PoPE.f 



Sp. 4. Sylvicola. Viridi-purpurea,, elytris viridibus lunula hu- 

 merali apicisque, fasciaque media suhdeflexa ahhreviata albis, 

 palpis totb mgro-ccerulescentibus. (Long. c. 7 lin.) 



Ci. Sylvicola. Megerle. — Curtis, i. pi. 1. — Steph. Catal. No. 3. 



Above purple-green, with green shagreened wing-cases, a white lunule at the 

 base and tips, and a slightly deflexed abbreviated band in the middle. 

 Beneath deep coppery blue : the palpi entirely blue-black. 



One specimen only of this highly elegant insect, which is in my 

 collection, has hitherto been capturad in England: it was found 

 near Epping (Essex), in the summer of 1820 : its nigro-cserulescent 

 labial palpi, broad head, and beautiful rich green colour, well cha- 

 racterize it, and distinguish it from the two preceding species, 

 which it somewhat resembles in other respects, excepting that the 

 fasciae on the elytra difi"er from those of Ci. hybrida, as they scarcely 

 reach beyond the centre of the disc, and are very slightly deflexed 

 or attenuated; in which particular it agrees precisely with Ci. 

 riparia. My friend, Mr. Curtis, has given a figure of this insect 

 in his Illustrations of the Genera of British Insects ; but he has 

 accidentally reversed the description of the colour of the palpi, by 

 stating that the third joint of the labial palpi is more ferruginous 

 than in Ci. hybrida, whereas in my specimen they are totally of a 

 deep nigro-cserulescent hue, as stated in the specific character. 



• M, Latreille has given a description of the larvfp of his Ci. hybrida, in the 

 Nouvcau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, 2d edit. 



t 20th April, 1827.— My friend Mr. Ingpen has this day shown mc a second 

 specimen of C!i. riparia, captured near Manchester. 



