250 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



El. obscurus. Linne.— He. obscurus. Steph. Catal. 122. No. 1232. 



Short, robust ; fuscous-black, pubescent, opaque, very obtuse anteriorly: thorax 

 very much, but rather finely, punctured, with the sides rounded, dilated in 

 the middle, slightly margined, the disc very convex, with an obsolete channel 

 at the base : scutellum black : elytra attenuated at the apex, faintly punctate- 

 striated, with the interstices thickly punctulate, pale dusky-black, and slightly 

 pubescent : body beneath black, thickly punctured : femora pitchy-black ; 

 tibiae, tarsi, and antennae dusky-ferruginous. 



Slightly variable in colour, being more or less testaceous. 



Considerably larger than the preceding, from which it may be known by its 

 shorter and more gibbous thorax, more opaque surface, fuscescent legs and 

 antennae. 



Also found copiously in meadows and pastures throughout Eng- 

 land. " Brugh Marsh." — T. C. Heysliam, Esq. " Epping." — 

 Mr. Doubleday. " This, the preceding, and the following species, 

 very abundant in Cambridgeshire; the larva? committing great 

 depredations at the roots of grass, &c." — Rev. L. Jenyns. " Com- 

 mon in woods, grass fields, and on the sand-hills (near Swansea)." — 

 L. W. Dillwyn, Esq. 



Sp. 6. lineatus. Fuscus, griseo-pubescens, antennis pedibusque testaceis, etytris 

 griseis, fusco-lineatis. (Long. corp. 4 — 4^ lin.) 



El. lineatus. Linne.— He. lineatus. Steph. Catal. No. 122. No. 1233. — Wire- 

 worm. Insect Transformations, fig. in p. 



Fuscous, clothed with a griseous pubescence : head and thorax blackish, the 

 latter with the lateral margins nearly straight, and the posterior angles very 

 acute ; the disc very convex and closely punctate : scutellum fuscous : elytra 

 broad, a little attenuated, rounded at the apex, very convex, punctate- 

 striated, the striae disposed in pairs and united at the apex ; griseous-yellow, 

 with the alternate narrowed interstices fuscous or dusky: margins and apex 

 of the abdomen ferruginous : antennae and legs rufo-testaceous, the femora 

 sometimes dusky. 



Also a little variable in colour, being more or less fuscescent or testaceous. 



Less abundant than the two preceding species, though far from 

 rare throughout the metropolitan district and elsewhere ; and near 

 Edinburgh. " Not uncommon among grass (near Swansea)." — 

 L. W. Dillwyn, Esq. " Dalston, Armathwaite, &c."— T. C. Hey- 

 sliam, Esq. " Epping. 11 — Mr. Doubleday. 



